Meta is undergoing significant operational changes amid a broader tech industry downturn. The company is reducing its office space at Vornado’s 770 Broadway as part of a cost-cutting strategy, which includes job cuts, subleasing office spaces, and spending millions to terminate leases. This move comes as Meta also plans to adjust its approach to political content across its platforms. Threads, a Meta platform, is testing a feature to allow users to view political topics, despite Meta's previous intentions to minimize political content's reach on its apps in anticipation of a divisive election year. Additionally, Meta is cutting funding for its WhatsApp fact-checking program, which could impact the moderation of misinformation around major global elections. These changes occur as the tech industry faces a wave of layoffs, with companies laying off more than 30,000 employees so far this year, marking the sector with the highest number of job cuts. Meta's AI will also play a role in determining what content is featured on trending topics pages.
Some of the biggest names in tech — Microsoft, Google, Meta and Salesforce — have all slashed jobs recently. Other major corporations like UPS and Citigroup are also cutting thousands of positions. https://t.co/Iez6QSdRtJ
Meta struggles to precisely define what political content is, offering only a vague statement, after saying it wouldn't amplify political content on Threads (@oliverdarcy / CNN) https://t.co/4Y3aGUD77W 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSRpIM https://t.co/iHlrUptZLj
Sources: Meta is reducing payments to news orgs that fact-check potential WhatsApp misinformation, including on elections, and has cut funding for CrowdTangle (The Information) https://t.co/bTJVpfaU3E 📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSRpIM https://t.co/MSEVrVMlQ8
This could signal that Meta and Threads are more open to letting controversial or divisive content on the platform. https://t.co/5HfNSaAqTd
Meta says the company’s content moderation teams will make sure that no topic that violates Threads’ community guidelines will be featured on the trending topics pages. https://t.co/5HfNSaAYIL
According to data, so far this year companies laid off more than 30,000 employees. So far, in 2024, data shows the tech industry announced the biggest layoffs. https://t.co/MpDxNSCrvs
While Meta said previously that it wants to “deemphasize” political discussion on Threads, which launched less than a year ago, political topics could feature prominently on the featured topics pages. https://t.co/5HfNSaAYIL
Meta’s AI will take into account several different signals to determine what will be featured on the trending topics pages including how posts have been published about a given topic and how many users are engaging with said posts. https://t.co/5HfNSaAYIL
More tech layoffs and a downward guide. https://t.co/6pikHFgghq
Exclusive: Meta is cutting funding for its WhatsApp fact-checking program as major global elections loom. https://t.co/1tEsBUN7cm By @KalleyHuang & @SylviaVarnham
Scoop with @KalleyHuang: Meta is is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential misinformation on WhatsApp, including around elections. https://t.co/vX6JAwO9VR
Game over? How tech layoffs are reshaping gaming industry jobs https://t.co/y38XTUC1lb
Meta is planning to minimize the reach of political content on two of its apps in the upcoming election year that many are expecting to be particularly divisive. https://t.co/VcnznExfqG
Job cuts in tech are on the rise again https://t.co/SieRyC4WuJ
Meta is shrinking its office at Vornado’s 770 Broadway, as part of its cost-cutting mode, slashing thousands of jobs, subleasing office space and spending millions to back out of leases.https://t.co/AVfS09339T
#MustRead: Meta appears to be taking a slight backtrack on its political content policies, as Threads is testing a new feature that will let users see political topics. https://t.co/R5htNXlnca