Kritika 
(C): X
First-hand experience of Meta Doomsday Mood
On her X (formerly Twitter), a former employee at Meta, Adel Wu, has narrated her experience of working amidst Meta layoffs in her final year at the company. The attitude of the company towards the job wasn’t much different between the first round of layoffs to the second and from the second round of layoffs to the third, according to Wu, who has always been one of the few people who haven’t liked the company’s attitude towards its employees.
Wu’s post went viral as she anticipates yet another company-wide restructuring at Meta that is supposed to affect around 8,000 employees on May 20, 2026, marking the biggest single-day layoffs in Meta’s history.
How It All Began: Mark Zuckerberg Layoffs and the Metaverse Fallout
The rounds of terminations started as far back as late 2022, when the Mark Zuckerberg-led company announced it would make some 11,000 cuts, its first major rounds of layoffs. The shift was largely blamed on the company’s “failing” investment in the virtual reality concept known as the Metaverse, which the tech giant had invested billions of dollars in trying to make a success of, but has yet to convince the general public.
A series of further cuts would be made to Meta over the next few years, and the rise of AI and big game automation would trigger a redefining of the company’s priorities for its employees. The incoming waves brought with them the same feeling of anxiety and uncertainty to those who were still working at the company.
Meta Employee Layoffs Reaction: Anxiety, Resentment, and Resignation
For each person losing their job, the story is deeply personal, but Wu’s recounting hints at the personal consequences of multiple layoffs for those who are still working in the company. According to her post, those who hadn’t left Meta found themselves in a difficult situation, wanting to be let go as a way to ease worry, or not be laid off, since they were concerned that their job was the only thing that would provide them with financial support.
The anxiety of the staff of Meta was not felt by just one member of staff. Others who commented thereafter in reply to Wu’s post described other people spending sleepless nights anticipating termination emails, an overall drop in morale, and the general “resentment” within the company.
According to Wu, one of the most significant things that came to him was the night before the first mass firing, when they were seen pilfering all the free office food, drinks, and chargers — as if they were expecting to no longer be able to access them forever. Many people were connected to the Meta snack bags layoffs picture.
Big Tech Layoffs 2026: The Wider Trend
But this is not a one-off. There have been significant changes in the industry regarding firms reducing staff in the recent past, and this will continue to be an important issue in 2026. In recent years, harsh layoffs across the tech sector have played a large part in the industry, and several companies have been trimming their staff as they seek to become more efficient and AI-driven. With the tech industry continuing to downsize, millions of people in Silicon Valley and beyond are worrying about their job security, lack of morale and uncertainty of their careers.
The end of Wu’s post was an observation that was echoed by many on social media, namely that it’s a “very strange time” to be in big tech. Many said the employee morale is at an all-time low after a series of job cuts at Meta and other companies in the industry, including a round of cuts in 2026.
What Comes Next
The speculation around a potential lay-off on May 20 continues to be in the background of a tense atmosphere on Meta’s campus. If you’ve gone through the other cycles, then it’s a very familiar story. If you haven’t experienced the impact of the Meta layoffs, Wu’s post is a warning and a statement of solidarity: an invitation to imagine how thousands of workers might have been silently struggling with the emotional effects of the layoffs.
Whether it’s the end of the story of Meta’s restructuring or a new episode of a saga, it will be interesting to see what this round brings. The one thing that’s obvious is that every statistic is a human story, a story of uncertainty, of surviving and of the rituals people perform when they know something is about to change.
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