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Asia

Meta cuts 8,000 jobs, including more than 100 in Singapore, in AI-driven efficiency push

Meta Platforms has begun cutting roughly 8,000 jobs globally. According to former employees, more than 100 positions in Singapore are affected. CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited efficiency gains and artificial intelligence-driven automation as the primary rationale.

Singapore financial district skyline
Photo: Sumitomo Tan / Pexels
Straits Times Business1 h agoMETA GOOGL MSFT

Meta Platforms began a global cut of roughly 8,000 jobs on 20 May 2026. The figure equates to about 11 percent of the company's total workforce of approximately 72,000. Affected units include advertising engineering, content moderation and operational support teams. According to former employees, more than 100 positions at Meta's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore are being affected.

In a note sent to all employees last week, Mark Zuckerberg said the company was "organising for effectiveness in an era where AI provides lasting productivity gains". In its quarterly investor presentation last month, the company had said its Llama 5 model and internal agile-development platforms had significantly reduced the number of people teams need.

The Singapore Ministry of Manpower said the company had complied with notification obligations and that severance packages of between three and six months are being offered to affected employees. The NTUC union said it was reviewing individual case submissions. Meta's move, alongside similar steps by Microsoft, Google and Amazon over the past six months, signals a new phase in the tech sector's AI-era transition.

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This article is an AI-curated summary of the original story published by Straits Times Business. The illustration is a stock photo by Sumitomo Tan from Pexels and is not from the original story.

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