The exact number of employees being let go has not been specified. The tech giant has stated that this new round of layoffs was due to the company’s change in ‘long-term strategic goals’ as well as ‘location strategy’. The company further stated that it will also be moving some divisions and employees to other locations and roles. The employees affected by this company strategy include WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs.

Those affected by the layoffs have taken to social media websites like X to disclose that they had been let go. According to reports, employees belonging to Facebook’s legal operations, recruiting division and design division have been laid off. On the other hand, some reports have stated that Threads’ legal operations and recruiting division have not been affected. A former employee at Meta stated that severance packages were offered to the employees if they chose not to take on the new positions as appointed by Meta.

Meta Layoffs: More on this new wave of layoffs

Some rumours have begun spreading about the reasons for the new wave of layoffs. According to a report, some of the workers had been fired as they used the $25 meal credits to purchase household items instead of food.

The tech industry is no stranger to job layoffs. There seem to be major tech layoffs happening every month or so. Meta has infamously laid off 11,000 employees in 2022 alone. Later in 2023, the leading tech company announced a layoff affecting more than 10,000 jobs as part of Mark Zuckerberg’s new strategy.

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Meta Connect 2024: Key Highlights From The Event

Image Credits: Photo by Dima Solomin on Unsplash

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Zuckerberg has amassed over $206.2 billion as his net worth which surpasses Bezos’ $205.1 billion net worth. The Meta CEO has grown his net worth up to $78 billion since 2024 started. Furthermore, this growth is significantly higher than any of the members in the 500 richest people list from the Bloomberg Index. It has also been reported that he has a 13% stake in his own Meta company.

Just recently, Meta’s shares came up to $582.77 which is a company record. The shares indicate a 68% increase from the beginning of the year. Meta’s shares at the start of January were estimated to be $346.29. So this jump in shares is impressive as it also contributed to Zuckerberg climbing the ladder to the top.

Mark Zuckerberg Becomes Second Richest Man: More on his claim to the top

As Mark Zuckerberg becomes the second richest man in the world, Meta parallels his success with its high profits. Meta has stated that the company’s second-quarter sales rose to $39.07, which is a 22% increase in sales. The leading tech giant has credited its investments in AI helping its online advertising performance as one of the main reasons for its increase in sales. Meta has been investing billions upon billions in VR and AR technologies to build their metaverse concept.

However, a grim side to Meta’s success resides in the form of 21,000 Meta employees losing their jobs. This major company layoff started in 2022 and it also went into 2023 as well. The layoffs were due to the company devising a huge budget plan. Unfortunately, as job layoffs are quite common in the tech industry, Meta may bring about a future wave of layoffs.

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Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerburg unveiled full holographic AR glasses called the Orion. However, these glasses will not be hitting the shelves for a while. The Orion glasses are shown to have a compatibility of eye and hand-tracking along with a neutral interface. The new Quest 3S was also announced at this event. The 3S is a cheaper alternative to the Quest 3. The Quest 3S will start at $299 for 128GB storage while the 256Gb will be priced at $399. This upcoming headset will allow users to play games and apps available through the Quest library. However, with the announcement of the Quest 3S, also comes the announcement of the discontinuation of the Quest 2 and the Quest Pro.

Meta’s Ray-Ban sunglasses are also getting new features including reminders and real-time language translations for select languages. These glasses will also have an AI processing feature for videos which will take place in real time.

Meta Connect 2024: More announcements from this event

The Meta Connect 2024 event also announced Meta Ai would be getting a new feature that allows users to choose from different voice options. The latest AI voices include Kristen Bell, John Cena, Dame Judi Dench, Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key. The new Llama 3.2 AI model has also been announced at the Meta Connect event. Llama 3.2 11B and 90B will now be able to interpret graphs, and charts, and point to things in pictures when given a description and caption images. However, it should be noted that the new AI models will not be accessible in Europe. This restriction comes as a result of the EU Act restrictions.

Meta is also testing a feature that uses AI translation tools, This could help content creators create translated dubs which would properly sync with the user’s lips. Games such as Batman: Arkham Shadow, Alien: Rogue Incursion, Arizona Sunshine and other Quest games have also been announced at the event.

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100M WhatsApp users have been recorded as announced by Mark Zuckerberg. This milestone is especially impressive as the United States is a country that primarily uses SMS as the main communication method.

The messaging company has recorded over two billion users globally, which makes it the most popular messaging app in the world. India is currently the country with the most amount of WhatsApp users comprising around 535 million active users. Brazil comes second with around 139 million active users.

100M WhatsApp Users and Its Distribution

WhatsApp has also reported around 50% of active US users have an iPhone, which does not come as a surprise as more than 40% of the country’s population use iOS devices.

Among the US sites, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami have seen the most amount of growth as reported by the amount itself. Additionally, WhatsApp has also reported growth in the Southern states such as Texas which has more than 10 million active users.

The Meta-owned company has been attempting to push the messaging app in the United States over the last few years. The most recent campaign by WhatsApp involves bringing the cast of Modern Family together for a heartfelt ad.

But despite its efforts, Apple iMessage continues to be the dominant messaging app in the United States. Additionally, with the coming of RCS (Rich Communication Services) in iOS 18, iMessage might hold on to the crown for much longer. Communication between Android and Apple devices will improve as Android users will be able to read receipts and exchange high-quality files with each other.

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On Wednesday, Jan 31st, Tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Linda Yaccarino (X/Twitter), Evan Spiegel (Snapchat), and Shou Zi Chew (Tik Tok), Jason Citron (Discord) testified before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation, child suicide rates and illegal drugs work.

The hearings touched on a variety of issues, ranging from human trafficking to concerns about Communist China and various political topics. The Judiciary members made sure that the Tech leaders could understand the responsibility they had on their shoulders.

Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham

The Committee hearing started with Senior Senator Mr Durbin addressing all the present witnesses followed by a video made by the victims of social media abuse, many of whom were present in the US Capitol. After having the judicial oath done the Tech CEOs were given time for their respective open statements. After this world witnessed one of the most brutal Senate hearings.

Opening Statements from the CEOs

Jason Citron CEO of Discord acknowledged the responsibility Discord had due to its young user base and described safety measures like CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) detection, reporting tools, and age-gating.

Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta spoke of Meta’s investments in safety, content moderation, and partnerships with law enforcement. He denied claims of a causal link between social media and mental health harm.

Mental health is a complex issue and the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link between social media and young people having worse mental health problems.

Mark Zuckerberg

(His statement was met with skepticism and interruptions from the audience.)

Evan Spiegel CEO of Snapchat described Snapchat’s focus on short content and proactive safety features like age verification and reporting mechanisms. He admitted challenges in detecting and removing CSAM.

X’s Linda Yaccarino shared her concern about CSAM and X‘s commitment to Child Safety

Shou Zi Chew CEO of Tik Tok spoke of realising the responsibility of running a billion users platform. He shared some major concerns over child exploitation, CSAM, and mental health.

The Judiciary Committee

The judiciary committee consisted of members from the republicans and the democrat. Each committee member was given time to question the CEOs, there were a few who made the headlines.

Mr Hawley and Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta

Mr Hawley’s interrogation came in with a thrashing pound on Mark the CEO of Meta, asking him of his opening statement. Hawley’s interrogation further went down so brutally and he made Zuckerberg stand up and apologize to the whole crowd full of parents.

Mr. Cruz and the CEOs

Mr Cruz talked about the child exploitation found on platforms like Facebook (now Meta), and Instagram. He accused Chew CEO, of Tik Tok for having leaked national data to the Chinese government.

Mr Cotton and Chew CEO of TikTok

Mr Cotton brutally questioned Shou Zi Chew about his nationality and his connections with the Chinese Communist Party.

Although all the top CEOs of modern-day technology were present, more pressure and focus were put on Mark Zuckerberg and Shou Zi Chew.

Know more about the Senate hearing

Takeaway

This senate hearing on child online safety held at the US Capitol gives us a moment to look back and question the modern advancement of technology. We use the internet for various purposes, but is it a safe space though?

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The main aim of Meta standards for political ads

This step is taken to tackle misinformation by allowing users to recognize manipulated content portraying statements or events that never happened.

Under the new rule, ads featuring should be realistic. However, fake events, people, or edited footage of actual events must include a revelation.

However, minor edits such as color modification or image resizing will only require disclosures if they significantly impact the ad’s message.

Meta will notify users within the ad and in the Ad Library when digitally altered content is detected.

Moreover, Non-compliant advertisers face ad sacrifice and possible penalties under Meta’s new policy. Meta maintains its stance against content violating guidelines, depending on separate fact-checkers to scrutinize viral misinformation.

This policy’s introduction echoes a growing unease about the reliability of information shared on online platforms. Meta’s move to compel advertisers to acknowledge digital advertising techniques openly is a stride towards rebuilding user confidence in online content.

This new policy marks a noteworthy development. It is beneficial for those prioritizing the authenticity of online content, especially in the politically assessed realm of social media. The policy tackles the advanced abilities of AI and digital instruments, which can craft compelling yet untrue stories.

Requiring disclosure isn’t just about reporting viewers; it’s a move to discourage manipulating facts for political motives. For brand reputation managers and marketing strategists, this policy emphasizes the crucial role of ethical and transparent advertising practices.

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