Meta’s latest round of job cuts, affecting 3,600 employees globally, has also impacted staff in Nigeria and other African offices. The company announced these layoffs through an internal memo, with exemptions only for employees in Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. Affected employees in Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe will receive termination notices between February 11 and 18, 2025.
A Meta spokesperson for sub-Saharan Africa downplayed the layoffs, describing them as routine performance-based terminations. “We have communicated transparently that, following our recent performance review cycle, we plan to exit our lowest-performing employees,” the spokesperson told TechCabal. “We have the highest confidence in the fairness and robustness of our performance review process leading to these decisions, and impacted employees are being provided with generous severance packages.”
The severance package includes 16 weeks of base pay, plus an additional two weeks for each year of service. It also covers full payment for unused paid time off, six months of healthcare benefits, three months of career support, and immigration assistance.
These terminations coincide with Meta’s intensified focus on artificial intelligence (AI) as the company shifts resources toward automation and efficiency. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declared 2024 the “year of efficiency,” emphasizing cost-cutting in non-priority areas.
Meta plans to allocate between $60 billion and $65 billion for capital expenditures in 2025, with significant investments in AI infrastructure, data centers, and specialized chips to support advanced AI models.
The layoffs primarily target employees who received low scores in performance reviews, as Meta tightens internal efficiency standards. While the company presents this as a routine adjustment, affected employees in Nigeria, Africa, and beyond now face an uncertain future in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.
