Year: 2024

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The tech industry has been reeling from the combination of a rough economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and some obvious business missteps. And while that led to job cuts in 2022, the headcount reductions unfortunately ramped up in 2023 and so far, seem to be accelerating in 2024. It can be tough to keep track of these moves, so we’ve compiled all the major layoffs in one place and will continue to update this story as the situation evolves.

February 2024

DocuSign layoffs

DocuSign slashed its headcount by six percent. Staff in the sales and marketing departments were most heavily affected. Bloomberg notes that the company had 7,336 employees at the end of 2023.

Snap layoffs

Snap is once again reducing its headcount, this time by another 10 percent, or some 540 workers. The company claimed the layoffs were required to “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration.”

Microsoft layoffs

In February Microsoft imposed layoffs at two of its gaming subsidiaries, cutting 86 jobs at Skylander studio Toys for Bob and 76 jobs at Call of Duty developer Sledgehamer Games.

Cisco layoffs

Networking giant Cisco announced it would be laying off thousands of employees as part of a larger restructuring effort. The company had a total employee count of 84,900 before these cuts. 

January 2024

Duolingo layoffs

Duolingo cut 10 percent of its contractors, and said that it is instead able to use generative AI to accomplish some of the tasks that its human workers used to perform. 

Unity layoffs

Unity laid off 1,800 people, or a quarter of its workforce. This is in addition to more than 1,110 other layoffs at the company over the past two years.

Humane AI layoffs

Humane cut 4 percent of its workforce even before its flagship product, the Ai pin, hit the market.

Twitch layoffs

Amazon-owned Twitch is laying off a sobering 35 percent of its workforce, just over 500 people. In a note to staff, CEO Dan Clancy said “our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business.”

Amazon layoffs

On the same day that Amazon-owned Twitch confirmed it would be laying off 500 workers, Variety reported that Amazon itself would lay off “several hundred” people at Prime Video and MGM Studios. Later in January, Amazon also cut 5 percent of the staff behind its Buy with Prime program.

Meta layoffs

Meta’s layoffs are continuing into 2024. The company has reportedly let go 60 technical program managers at Instagram.

Google layoffs

In another round of belt tightening, Google has reportedly laid off hundreds of workers in its Assistant and hardware divisions, among other departments. Alongside the cuts, Google is said to have reorganized its Pixel, Nest and Fitbit divisions, which led to Fitbit’s co-founders departing the company. Just days later, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its ads business. CEO Sundar Pichai later said in an internal memo that even more cuts would be coming throughout the year, while parent company Alphabet cut dozens of jobs from its X moonshot lab.

Discord layoffs

Discord has reportedly laid off 170 workers, or 17 percent of its workforce. In a memo first reported by The Verge, CEO Jason Citron said the company had hired too many people back in 2020.

Riot Games layoffs

Following the gaming industry’s crisis level of loss in 2023, Riot Games announced that it laid off 11 percent of its workforce globally, impacting 530 people.

eBay layoffs

E-commerce giant eBay is reducing its workforce by around 1,000 roles, or roughly 9 percent of its full-time employees. The company also plans to scale back the number of contractors over the coming months.

TikTok layoffs

TikTok confirmed it let go 60 employees, mostly in its sales and advertising division.

Microsoft layoffs

Microsoft cut 1,900 jobs across Activision and Blizzard. This marks a bleak beginning to the new year for gaming, with 6,000 layoffs across the industry so far in 2024 alone.

iRobot layoffs

Roomba maker iRobot slashed 31 percent of its workforce following Amazon’s decision to terminate its proposed acquisition of the company.

Block layoffs

Block reportedly laid off around 1,000 workers, with the Cash App and Square teams among those most heavily affected. CEO Jack Dorsey told staff that Block was becoming a leaner company.

PayPal layoffs

PayPal cut nine percent of its workforce — approximately 2,500 employees — despite reporting strong revenue growth in 2023. 

Polestar layoffs

The EV maker is cutting 15 percent of its global workforce, or about 450 jobs.

Sega layoffs

Sega announced plans to lay off 61 workers in March. The employees are based at two offices in Irvine, California. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech-layoffs-183005386.html?src=rss

Meta will no longer recommend political content to users on Instagram or Threads, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. He said that users will still see political content from accounts they follow, but the apps will no longer “proactively amplify” such posts.

The change, which will be rolling out “over the next few weeks,” will apply to public accounts in places where Meta’s recommendation algorithms suggest content or posts, like Instagram’s Reels and Explore, and suggested users on Threads.Mosseri didn’t elaborate on how Meta will determine what counts as “political,” but a Meta spokesperson said it would include election-related topics and social issues. 

“Our definition of political content is content likely to be about topics related to government or elections; for example, posts about laws, elections, or social topics,” the spokesperson said. “These global issues are complex and dynamic, which means this definition will evolve as we continue to engage with the people and communities who use our platforms and external experts to refine our approach.”

Meta

While Meta will limit its suggestions related to these topics by default, those who do want to see such content will be able to opt-in via Instagram and Threads’ settings. The company said the update won’t affect how people see posts from accounts they’ve chosen to follow. “Our goal is to preserve the ability for people to choose to interact with political content, while respecting each person’s appetite for it,” Mosseri said.

The change is the latest way Meta has tried to discourage Threads users from discussing topics it considers potentially problematic. The company blocks “potentially sensitive” topics, including vaccine and covid-related terms, from search results in Threads. Mosseri has also said that Meta doesn’t want to “encourage” users to post about “politics and hard news” in the app.

But the change could also cause a new backlash among users and creators, some of whom already believe Meta unfairly suppresses certain types of content. Meta said that people with “professional” accounts on Instagram can use the “account status” feature to check if their posts are currently considered eligible for recommendations.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-and-threads-will-no-longer-recommend-political-content-180521125.html?src=rss