Slap in the Facebook: 60 Meta employees laid off 'at random'

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc. Photo / Supplied

Facebook is the latest large tech company to begin mass layoffs, choosing 60 contractors reportedly at random using an algorithm.

The unlucky contractors were employed by Meta - formerly Facebook Inc - via its Austin office of Accenture, despite the company having a nearly half billion dollar deal with Meta to provide workers in content moderation and business integrity.

According to Business Insider, workers were informed via a video conference call that they would have no work as of September 2, with pay ending on October 3.

No specific reasons were given besides being chosen "at random".

They weren't immediately offered alternative jobs by Accenture, but were told they could reapply for any newly available jobs over the next two weeks.

The layoffs are perhaps not surprising, considering that during a company wide Q&A meeting on June 30, Mark Zuckerberg warned employees that a recent market slump "might be one of the worst downturns that we've seen in recent history" — prompting the need for "aggressive performance reviews" to help weed out underperforming employees.

"Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn't be here," Zuckerberg said.

"Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn't for you, and that self selection is OK with me," Zuckerberg added.

The Q&A came amid a Meta hiring freeze and other cost cutting measures, as the company's stock is down more than 50 per cent this year.

The Meta layoffs also come just days after Apple sacked 100 of its recruiters who were responsible for hiring new employees. Apple did previously warn that it would be curbing spending and slow hiring.

A gaming industry payment processing company, Xsolla, also used an algorithm to pick 150 employees to lay off last August — so letting robots fire workers might be a trend of the future.