India, May 20 -- Employees at Meta Platforms woke up to an unusual message on Wednesday: work from home for the day.

There were no large internal meetings, no packed office floors and no warning signs visible to most employees. But within hours, inboxes across regions began filling with layoff emails.

The tech giant has started cutting nearly 8,000 jobs - around 10 per cent of its workforce - in what is shaping up to be one of its biggest restructuring exercises yet, driven largely by its aggressive push into artificial intelligence.

Layoff emails sent before sunrise

The first wave of layoffs was reported from Meta's Singapore office, where employees reportedly received emails around 4 am local time, according to Bloomberg.

The notif...