Meta Announces Job Cuts and Increased AI Spending for 2026
Meta has announced plans to lay off approximately 8,000 employees on May 20, 2026. This represents about 10% of its global workforce. At the same time, the company is increasing its AI infrastructure spending guidance to as much as $145 billion for 2026.
The social media giant is also canceling 6,000 open positions. This brings the total headcount reduction to 14,000 roles. Interestingly, these cuts are happening not during a downturn, but during a period of record financial performance. The company recently reported $56.31 billion in quarterly revenue.
“We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making,” said Janelle Gale, Meta’s Chief People Officer, in an internal memo.
The layoffs will affect teams across various divisions, including:
- Reality Labs
- Facebook social division
- Recruiting
- Sales
- Global operations
Additional cuts are planned for later in 2026.
The restructuring reflects CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s belief that AI infrastructure holds more value than human workers. Teams are being reorganized into AI-focused “pods” under the company’s Superintelligence Labs division. However, this move has reportedly led to a sharp decline in employee morale, with internal protests over surveillance software that tracks keystrokes and mouse movements to train AI agents.
Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/meta-layoffs-8000-zuckerberg-ai-reality-may-2026