FACEBOOK’S PARENT COMPANY Meta plans to dismiss approximately 3,600 employees identified as “low performers” and replace them with new hires, according to an internal memo reported by Bloomberg today.

The company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, confirmed to the AFP news agency that CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision will affect 5% of its workforce.

Meta had approximately 72,400 employees as of September, roughly 2,000 of whom are based in Ireland. It was not immediately clear if the cuts would affect Irish-based workers, which has been the case in previous rounds of lay-offs. 

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said.

The CEO said the performance-based cuts are intended to ensure that the company has the “strongest talent” and is able to “bring new people in.”

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Peter Burke said in response to the news that his primary concern is “for the staff and their families who are now coming to terms with the impact of this announcement”. 

“Officials at my department and IDA Ireland are actively engaged with the company in relation to possible impact for its Irish operations,” the minister said in a statement.

He also sought to allay concerns about the impact on the wider Irish economy, particularly the areas supported by foreign direct investment.  

“As a country we are close to full employment. The economy is well diversified, with hundreds of thousands of people employed by indigenous SMEs, pharmaceuticals, agri-food, med-tech and financial services.”

Minister Burke went on to point out that Meta is “a longstanding and key employer in Ireland, having first established operations in Ireland in 2008, and generating several thousand jobs directly and through contracted employment”.

“Ireland continues to be seen as a location of choice for new investors and long-established companies who choose to reinvest in substantial expansions of their operations here.”

Performance-based dismissals are a common practice among major US corporations. Microsoft announced similar cuts last week affecting less than one percent of its workforce, Business Insider reported.

Change of tack

The layoffs come amid broader changes at Meta, in advance of Donald Trump returning to the White House on 20 January.

Zuckerberg has recently aligned more closely with conservative ideas and political figures, including having dinner meetings with Trump and nominating a Republican as Meta’s head of public affairs.

Last week, Zuckerberg announced the end of the company’s US fact-checking program that aimed to combat misinformation on its platforms. The program had faced criticism from conservative voices who viewed it as censorship.

Under the new system, users will be able to add context to posts, similar to features on X, formerly Twitter, and championed by Elon Musk, the platform’s owner.

The company has also scaled back its diversity initiatives and cut down significantly on content moderation rules for Facebook and Instagram, particularly regarding the topics of immigration and LGBTQ issues. 

With reporting from AFP