Meta employees report low morale ahead of planned layoffs and AI tracking

In short: Meta employees told WIRED morale is very low as the company prepares to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, while also pushing harder on AI and tracking work activity.

What's going on

Meta is planning layoffs next week, which employees say is driving fear and frustration across teams like Facebook and Instagram. A human resources leader said the cuts are meant to run the company more efficiently and help pay for other investments, including spending on artificial intelligence. The company has announced about 25,000 job cuts over the past four years, and this round would remove nearly 8,000 more people.

Several current and former employees also told WIRED that Meta recently installed required software on US employees’ work computers that tracks typing and clicking. The goal is to collect data to train AI systems that can do computer tasks (like teaching a robot by recording how a person uses a laptop). Some workers said they cannot opt out, and they worry about privacy and trust.

Employees pointed to other issues hurting morale, including widening pay gaps and changes to compensation tied to company shares. Meta reported strong profits recently, but also said it is increasing spending on AI, including more data centers and high pay offers to top AI researchers.

In the UK, some Meta employees are reportedly trying to organize a union, and a small protest effort in US offices has pushed a petition asking Meta to stop the tracking program.

What to watch

Meta has said it has safeguards and that tracked data is not used for other purposes. Next week’s layoffs, and whether employee pushback grows into broader organizing, will be key signals of how far tensions inside the company go.

Source: Wired