Facebook parent company Meta is to cut 10% of its global workforce, which would equate to approximately 8,000 staff.
It is not yet known what impact the layoffs will have on the company’s Irish operation, which employs around 1,800 people.
A spokesperson for Meta Ireland did not comment on the details of the job cuts but confirmed the accuracy of a Bloomberg article that first reported the global layoffs.
The Department of Enterprise said it has not yet received a collective redundancy notification from Meta.
Details of the layoffs are expected to be announced on 20 May.
The job cuts were outlined in a memo to staff, which also stated that the company will not fill thousands of open jobs it had been hiring for.
Irish-based Meta staff were impacted by a redundancy announcement in January last year, when the company said it would cut around 5% of its “lowest performing” staff globally.
The company previously cut around 840 jobs in Ireland, with rounds of redundancies in November 2022 and again in May 2023.
The cuts come as Meta increases spending on artificial intelligence (AI).
Last month, it emerged that 15 jobs were under threat at the company’s Irish operation linked to the adoption of AI.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that 2026 would be the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way the company works, with investments in AI tools that would involve “flattening teams”.
“We’re starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person,” Mr Zuckerberg said in January.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin responded to the news by warning that “there could be significant upheaval in the jobs market over the next decade, and earlier rather than later”.
Speaking to reporters in Cyprus, where he is attending a two-day informal EU summit, the Taoiseach said that while the exact details of the Meta job losses are unclear, “there is a concern overall in terms of the impact of AI on jobs”.
The Fianna Fail leader said Government is “looking at proposals to see how we can identify the implications and impact of AI on the world of work over the next number of years”.
He added that while Ireland is investing in AI in order to “obtain new jobs rising out” of the developing industry, the global changes also bring concerns, saying: “I think we should be mindful of the fact there could be significant upheaval in the jobs market over the next decade, and it could be earlier rather than later in that decade.”
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Simon Harris said it is an anxious and stressful time for Meta workers following the announcement of the redundancies.
He said it may take a few weeks to find out the full details of Meta’s plans for change and the impact for countries where it has operations.
He said Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will continue to engage with Meta through the IDA.
The Tánaiste also referred to the impact of AI generally on the labour force market, “both good and bad”, and the work that needs to be done to better understand the obstacles and opportunities that AI presents.
Additional reporting: Fiachra Ó Cionnaith, Karen Creed