Abdulkadir Gunyol
16 January 2025•Update: 16 January 2025
ISTANBUL
Technology firms’ layoffs fell 42% on an annual basis, according to data from the Layoffs.fyi website as compiled by Anadolu.
The data showed that some 549 tech firms worldwide laid off 152,000 workers in 2024. Last year, 1,193 tech firms reduced their workforce by 264,000 people.
The website has been measuring employment reductions in the tech world since the beginning of the pandemic in 2019.
In January 2025, tech firms continued layoffs. Some 13 tech companies dismissed 1,390 workers in total this month so far, but far fewer than in 2023, when 90,000 workers were laid off, while last year, 34,000 workers got pink slips.
Meta announces layoffs, sheds fact-checkers
US-based tech giant Meta, the owner of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, announced that it would lay off about 5% of its workers in a bid to make changes in its performance management and hire new employees to fill vacant positions.
The layoff coincided with the firm’s ending of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and the cessation of fact-checking programs on its social media platforms in the US.
The ending of Meta’s fact-checking program will result in it laying off its fact-checking partners, though it is not certain when the firm will pull the plug, CNN reported Tuesday.
The closure of Meta’s DEI program will affect hiring, training, and picking suppliers, as company CEO Mark Zuckerberg and executives transition for President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, US news site Axios reported on Jan. 10, citing a new employee memo.
*Writing and contributions by Emir Yildirim
