Additional Coverage:
- Meta tells some employees their jobs are being replaced by tech — read the memo (businessinsider.com)
Meta’s Latest Cuts: Automation Takes Center Stage in Risk Division Layoffs
MENLO PARK, CA – Tech giant Meta has announced another round of job eliminations, this time impacting its “Risk” division. The company cites a strategic shift towards automated processes, moving away from manual reviews, as the primary reason for the staffing reductions. This follows a previous wave of layoffs that affected 600 employees in Meta’s Superintelligence Labs division earlier this week.
According to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider, Michel Protti, Meta’s chief compliance and privacy officer of product, informed risk organization employees on Wednesday that the company’s “internal technology improvements” have led to the elimination of several roles.
“As a result, we don’t need as many roles in some areas as we once did,” Protti wrote in the memo, though he did not specify the exact number of affected positions.
This latest move underscores a growing trend within Big Tech, where companies like Meta and Amazon are increasingly leveraging automation and artificial intelligence not only to develop new products but also to redefine their workforce structures and boost efficiency.
Protti explained that Meta’s significant investments over the past few years in “building more global technical controls” have led to “significant progress” in its approach to risk management and compliance. The company’s risk organization is responsible for ensuring adherence to regulatory and policy standards.
“By moving from bespoke, manual reviews to a more consistent and automated process, we’ve been able to deliver more accurate and reliable compliance outcomes across Meta,” Protti stated. “This standardization means that many routine decisions can now be handled efficiently by technology, freeing our teams to focus on the most complex and high-impact challenges.”
Meta spokesperson Thomas Richards confirmed the job cuts within the risk organization and the internal memo, adding that these organizational changes are routine and aimed at restructuring to “reflect the maturity of our program and innovate faster while maintaining high compliance standards.”
The restructuring within the risk division will see reductions in roles across the Product Risk Program Manager, Shared Services, and Global Security & Privacy (GSP) teams. The GSP team will be integrated with the Reg Readiness division and the data protection officer’s team, forming a newly named group: Regulatory Compliance Programs. Additionally, certain areas of work in London will be consolidated.
These cuts come shortly after Meta laid off 600 employees from its Superintelligence Labs division on Wednesday. In an internal memo, Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang, indicated that the company would “continue to hire industry-leading AI-native talent” with the goal of enabling Meta Superintelligence Labs to operate with greater agility.
Meta has also been exploring automation in other areas of its operations, including its hiring process, utilizing AI-assisted interviews and AI for assessing coding skills. Earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed an expectation that the company would soon have an AI agent capable of performing the work of a mid-level engineer.
Read More About This Story:
- Meta tells some employees their jobs are being replaced by tech — read the memo (businessinsider.com)