Meta warns employees of serious times ahead, leaked internal memo reveals

The memo also notes Meta's plans to launch Whatsapp Communities before it rolls out globally at the end of the year.

Facebook parent Meta has warned its employees of a "serious" year as its ad business continues to take hits amid a weakening economy. The internal memo, shared by The Verge, highlights that the social giant's priority for the rest of the year remains metaverse and ad revenue from Reels and Shops Ads. The latest development comes a month after another leaked memo revealed the company's plans to halt hiring as it missed its revenue targets.

The memo also notes Meta's plans to launch Whatsapp Communities before it rolls out globally at the end of the year. The feature was revealed in April this year, and it aims to enhance group conversations.

The internal memo on investment by Meta chief product officer Chris Cox warns about "serious times" ahead and the “headwinds are fierce". The letter reads, "We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets. We must prioritise more ruthlessly, be thoughtful about measuring and understanding what drives impact, invest in developer efficiency and velocity inside the company, and operate leaner, meaner, better exciting teams."

The memo does not exactly highlight other consumer-centric features that the company is banking on in the second half (H2) of 2022 but reiterates its earlier plans to expand Facebook Reels to a wider audience. Meta says its Business Messaging will be its most important opportunity to grow revenue. The key priorities here include 'click-to-messaging ads', 'paid messaging', and 'software and tools'.

Apart from that, Meta will continue to focus on increasing AI capacity and prioritising AI in AR (Metaverse and Avatar autogen). It also touches upon privacy. The memo highlights the "focus on increasing Privacy Review efficiency and work to make Privacy Review less disruptive for product teams".

Meanwhile, a company spokesperson downplayed the significance of the internal memo to CNBC and said that it only highlights the internal strategy. The memo also states that upcoming investment developments are not its "absolute priorities".

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