Since revenue growth was lower than expected due in part to Apple’s iOS 14 privacy rules, Facebook’s parent company Meta has informed its employees that they would no longer be able to hire new employees.
App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is a new feature in iOS 14.5 that allows users to opt out of having their app activity recorded by advertising. Facebook has previously taken out newspaper advertisements suggesting that Apple was harming small companies as a result of the decision.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, went on the record saying that Apple’s moves could be beneficial to Facebook. Investors were warned in April of 2021 that ATT was affecting the company’s revenue.
It’s now been reported that Facebook parent firm Meta is aiming to slash expenses and has informed employees that it is halting most hiring.
David Wehner, Meta’s CFO, wrote in an email to the company’s employees that “despite our optimism, we need to ensure that we are making targeted, balanced expenditures to support our most important initiatives.” Slower revenue growth is one of the challenges we’re dealing with right now.
Because of a variety of causes, including the loss of signal caused by iOS updates, commercial problems coming from the Ukraine conflict, and the overall financial situation, Wehner said.
For this reason, Wehner added, the corporation must make “tough decisions” regarding its short-and medium-term objectives because of the post-pandemic slowdown.
However, the corporation is starting by cutting “our recruiting objectives for 2022” as part of its “reprioritization.” Any new hires will be welcomed, although Meta will have to “hold” recruiting in certain technical positions.
For certain applicants, it’s also “cancelling future planned interviews. Relocation of current Meta workers may also be possible since the business says it’s currently “reviewing workforce allocation to ensure it’s aligned to our top company goals.”
Another recent study found that social media lost $10 billion in revenue due to Apple’s acquisition of ATT.