Meta Faces Lawsuit Over AI-Driven Discriminatory Layoffs

Twenty-six current and former employees filed a federal lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. in Oakland, California, alleging the company used artificial intelligence to disproportionately target workers with disabilities, pregnant employees, and those on medical or family leave during mass layoffs. The plaintiffs claim Meta utilized a constellation of internal tools—including a large language model called Metamate, keystroke tracking, and AI token-usage dashboards—to rank employee productivity. They argue these systems penalized workers on protected leave by recording their absences as low performance.

The legal action stems from a workforce reduction in May 2026 that eliminated approximately 8,000 positions, representing 10% of the company's global staff. This restructuring occurred despite record first-quarter revenues of $56.31 billion. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order to block terminations scheduled for July 22, an independent audit of the AI tools, and the right to pursue claims in private arbitration to negotiate back pay and damages.

Meta Platforms Inc. has denied the allegations, asserting that the claims lack merit and that workforce management decisions are made by humans rather than AI. While the company maintains its position, CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that the restructuring did not deliver expected results and that executives misjudged the development pace of AI agents. Additionally, CTO Andrew Bosworth stated an internal review found no employee data was used to train AI models regarding mouse-tracking software.