Meta Fired 8,000 People at 4 AM While Telling Them to Stay Home (opens in new tab)

On May 20, 2026, Meta terminated 8,000 employees — 10 percent of its global workforce — via automated email sent at 4 AM, after instructing staff to work from home. The cuts hit the company's integrity, cybersecurity, and content design teams. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's internal memo framed the move as a necessary bet on AI, with the company planning to spend up to SGD 10.47 billion (USD 145 billion) on AI infrastructure in 2026. Workers had already been protesting a new mouse-tracking program the...