BusinessNov 7, 2026, 6:25 AM UTC·1 min read

Meta France launches voluntary exit plan targeting a third of staff

Meta's French subsidiary has opened a voluntary departure scheme aimed at around 100 jobs, close to a third of its roughly 350 employees, as the group cuts staff worldwide.

Image: Maddyness - Le média pour comprendre l'économie de demain

Meta's French subsidiary has launched a voluntary departure plan that could affect close to a third of its workforce, according to a source familiar with the matter. The information was first reported by the outlet La Lettre.

The plan will run through a "rupture conventionnelle collective" (RCC), a mechanism under French law. Employees who leave receive a severance payment negotiated between management and staff representatives, and they keep their unemployment benefit rights. According to La Lettre, the scheme targets about 100 positions, and eligible employees had until 5 November to decide. Meta France has around 350 staff, so the plan would cover nearly a third of them.

Part of a global restructuring

The French plan follows a worldwide reduction in headcount at the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. In spring, Meta cut roughly 8,000 jobs, close to 10% of its workforce, as Mark Zuckerberg looks to redirect the group's resources toward an ambitious artificial intelligence roadmap.

In April, the company also said it was abandoning plans to hire 6,000 people and reassigning another 7,000 employees to roles tied to integrating AI into work processes.

Why it matters

This is the largest round of job cuts at group level since the "year of efficiency" campaign Zuckerberg launched in 2022-2023, which eliminated about 21,000 positions. It comes while Meta is sharply increasing spending on AI infrastructure, from buying chips to building giant data centres and the power plants to supply them.

For employees in France, the outcome depends on the negotiated terms of the RCC and on how many staff ultimately choose to leave. The figures reported so far point to one of the deepest local reductions among the group's units.

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Tags:metalayoffsfranceartificial intelligencemark zuckerberg