Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is going ahead with a plan for a fresh round of layoffs and will slash thousands of employees as soon as this week, media reports suggest.

The world’s largest social networking company is eliminating more jobs, on top of a 13% reduction last year, in a bid to become a more efficient organisation. In its earlier round of cuts, Meta slashed 11,000 workers in what was its first-ever major layoff.

The company has also been working to flatten its organisation, giving buyout packages to managers and cutting whole teams it deems nonessential, Bloomberg News reported in February, a move that is still being finalised and could affect thousands of staffers.

The imminent round of cuts is being driven by financial targets and is separate from the “flattening,” according to the reports.

Last November marked the first major action taken by Facebook's parent company in its 18-year history, as it sought to rein in costs amid a weak advertising market while pushing ahead with its foray into the metaverse.