Meta recently terminated approximately two dozen employees from its Los Angeles office for misusing company meal credits on non-food items such as laundry detergent, wine glasses, and acne treatment pads, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.
The social media giant is known for offering its employees elaborate food services in many of its corporate offices as a perk. For instance, its office near New York City’s Penn Station, which opened two years ago, features a cafeteria resembling an upscale food court, offering various meal options for free.
However, at smaller offices that lack in-house food services, Meta provides meal vouchers—$20 for breakfast and $25 each for lunch and dinner—so employees can order food while working. These vouchers are intended to cover meals for employees working long hours in the office, a common practice in the tech industry.
An internal investigation revealed that some employees in the LA office used these meal credits for personal purchases or had food delivered to their homes, which violates company policy, the source said.
Meta’s median total compensation for employees (excluding CEO Mark Zuckerberg) is $379,050 annually, according to a regulatory filing earlier this year.
The terminations, first reported by the Financial Times, come amid broader changes at Meta. The company recently confirmed layoffs across its platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Reality Labs, which focuses on Meta’s virtual reality and metaverse initiatives.
“Today, a few teams at Meta are making changes to ensure resources align with long-term strategic goals and location strategies,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton said in a statement. “This includes relocating some teams and reassigning some employees to new roles. In cases where roles are eliminated, we work hard to find other opportunities for affected employees.”
Meta did not disclose the total number of employees impacted by these latest layoffs. Among those let go was Jane Manchun Wong, a well-known security researcher who gained recognition for predicting new social media features. Wong joined Meta in June 2023 to work on the Instagram and Threads team.
These layoffs follow a broader restructuring effort at Meta, which last year saw over 20,000 employees laid off in multiple rounds as the company sought to recover from revenue declines and stagnant user growth. CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to 2023 as Meta’s “year of efficiency.” The company’s stock (META) has risen nearly 80% over the past year.
