According to a company-wide memo [URL='https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-14/meta-is-planning-to-cut-5-of-lowest-performers-memo-shows?sref=YfHlo0rL']obtained by [I]Bloomberg[/I][/URL], the Facebook owner is cutting around five percent of its staff. And interestingly, the directive is already in tension with what Zuckerberg [URL='https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-automate-coding-ai']told podcaster Joe Rogan[/URL] last week about how the company was looking to replace "midlevel engineers" with AI. Instead — in a likely concession to AI just not quite being up to snuff yet — he says employees "who aren't meeting expectations" will be replaced in order to "bring new people in" (emphasis on the "people," for any AI zealots.)

"I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster," he wrote in the message, adding that terminated employees would be provided with "generous severance."

Zuckerberg wrote that 2025 will be an "intense year" that will require the "strongest talent." But what exactly he means by that remains unclear as the billionaire makes sweeping changes to the company's operations.

The CEO appears to be [URL='https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/01/mark-zuckerberg-wants-be-elon-musk/681248/']taking yet another page out of the playbook[/URL] of X-former-Twitter owner Elon Musk, who has long led his companies with an iron fist — demanding in 2022 that Twitter staff be "[URL='https://futurism.com/panicked-elon-musk-begging-engineers-not-to-leave']extremely hardcore[/URL]" or risk immediate termination, for instance.

[HEADING=1]Race to the Bottom[/HEADING]
Zuckerberg already raised eyebrows this month by giving up the pretense of serious content moderation on his sites. Earlier this month, he [URL='https://futurism.com/zuckerberg-meta-announcement-hate-speech']introduced new measures[/URL] that would allow hate speech and misinformation to proliferate unchecked on the company's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

The straightforward reading is that it was a thinly veiled attempt by Zuckerberg to get in the good graces of president-elect Donald Trump, who has formed a tight relationship with Musk and will be sworn in next week (Trump previously [URL='https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-imprison-mark-zuckerberg']threatened to imprison[/URL] Zuckerberg, which may also be weighing on the founder's mind.)

How exactly Meta's latest efforts to weed out "low-performers" fits into the ongoing groveling remains to be seen. It's not just Meta, either; tech companies across the board are looking to tighten up their operations. Microsoft is [URL='https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-plans-job-cuts-performance-management-2025-1']also targeting underperforming employees[/URL] as part of major headcount reductions across the company.

During his chat with Rogan last week, Zuckerberg also [URL='https://fortune.com/2025/01/13/zuckerberg-says-companies-need-more-masculine-energy/']whined[/URL] that companies were being "culturally neutered" by purportedly distancing themselves from "masculine energy."

Could his latest attempt to push out "low-performers" be symptomatic of his deranged desire to inject some machismo into Meta? Judging by the company's willingness to throw out the rulebook and double down on Musk-inspired meritocracy, anything seems possible.

Source: [URL="https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerberg-layoffs-coding-jobs-ai"]Zuckerberg Announces Layoffs After Saying Coding Jobs Will Be Replaced by AI[/URL]