Meta Worker Launches 520 FM After 8,000 Job Cuts With A.I.-Generated Layoff Songs
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 20
Meta Worker Launches 520 FM After 8,000 Job Cuts With A.I.-Generated Layoff Songs
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 20
A Meta employee created an internal A.I. radio station called 520 FM, using company tools to stream layoff-themed songs as colleagues absorbed Wednesday’s 8,000 job cuts.
The station’s name riffs on the May 20 layoff date, and its announcement parodied Meta HR language, pitching a “24/7” service to help workers manage “elevated anxiety.”
Songs span hip-hop, country, rock and metal, with tracks including “Meta Layoff,” “Missing the People” and “Big Beautiful Layoff,” which references an HR Zoom call.
Employees said the station offered a welcome distraction as some exchanged somber messages and others posted salad emojis — an internal sign-off meaning “salute” — while Meta declined to comment.
The cuts amount to about 10% of Meta’s workforce as the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp owner pushes to remake itself as an A.I.-first company.
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