Meta lays off roughly 8,000 employees while accelerating multibillion-dollar AI expansion; Sen. Bernie Sanders questions impact on American workers

Meta laid off roughly 8,000 employees, representing nearly 10% of its workforce. The company employed more than 78,000 workers at the end of 2025 and had already announced plans to eliminate thousands of roles and close roughly 6,000 open positions as it shifts resources toward AI development and infrastructure.

Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized the layoffs on X, writing that Meta is firing workers to replace them with AI, and questioned how AI could affect workers across the broader economy. As Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sanders called on workers affected by AI and robotics to submit personal stories through a Senate outreach form.

Meta also informed employees that around 7,000 workers would be reassigned to newly created AI-focused organizations. Earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta expects to spend between $115 billion and $135 billion in 2026, with much of the investment tied to AI and data center expansion as the company competes with OpenAI, Alphabet Inc. and Anthropic.