15 jobs to go in Meta’s Irish operations as global cuts announced

Just this week, Meta was found to be enabling social media addiction, and endangering children on its platforms.

Meta has begun laying off several hundred employees globally, as the company continues to redirect priorities towards AI.

Some news publications have placed the total number of layoffs globally at 700. According to reports, affected departments include Reality Labs, Facebook, global operations, recruiting and sales.

The tech giant employs nearly 79,000 globally, with around 1,800 in Ireland spread across 80 teams. SiliconRepublic.com understands that around 15 jobs were impacted in Ireland, with no roles in Reality Labs affected – which, The Information reports, is expected to be hit hard globally.

“Teams across Meta regularly restructure or implement changes to ensure they’re in the best position to achieve their goals,” a Meta spokesperson told SiliconRepublic.com. “Where possible, we are finding other opportunities for employees whose positions may be impacted.”

Meanwhile, as the company lays off hundreds, a stock option for its key leaders announced on 24 March could see some of them increase their compensation by more than $900m over the next five years.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Meta was planning to cut 20pc or more of the company’s global workforce. Meta called this a “speculative report about theoretical approaches.” It is understood that the latest organisational changes are unrelated to Reuters’ story.

Reports from January 2026 suggested that Meta could cut 10pc of its Reality Labs division, which employs roughly 15,000. In December, it was speculated that the company would be reducing the budget and cutting staff in its ‘metaverse’ sections.

The layoffs highlight a strong shift in how Big Tech companies are approaching work and productivity. In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that 2026 might be the year “AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work.

“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” he said.

Meta’s not alone in this – Atlassian, Amazon and Block have all laid off thousands in recent months as slimmer teams and AI tools take the industry by storm. Oracle could also cut thousands of jobs to funnel funds into its AI data centre expansion efforts.

The Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook parent lost two landmark lawsuits this past week, with critics hailing this as Big Tech’s ‘Big Tobacco moment’.

Earlier this week, a New Mexico jury found that Meta endangered children by misleading users about the safety of its platforms, while yesterday, a Los Angeles jury found that Instagram and YouTube design their platforms to addict young users.

However, the $1.5trn company is only facing penalties of less than $380m for both the lawsuits combined.

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