The Workforce AI Index · Communication Services
Meta (META)
A social media company read by description. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-01-29. Ranked 7 of the 10 Communication Services companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.
The filing states one global total and nothing by function or country, so the workforce is read into the social networks pattern with a share for its data centers, both by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 25% now, 54% at the end of 2027, 66% at the end of 2028, 70% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 70% desk work, 22% people work and 8% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 29% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 55% becomes checking a model's work and 10% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
78,865 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). The filing does not state a U.S. count; it says the company has offices in more than 90 cities around the world.
The filing: “We had a global workforce of 78,865 employees as of December 31, 2025, and we have offices in more than 90 cities around the world.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers | 90% | By (c): the filing states one total and no split, and describes a business of social networks, messaging and media products with their engineering, sales and support, which is the social networks and media platforms pattern; nearly all of the workforce is read there by description. |
| Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services | 10% | By (c): the filing describes data centers it builds and operates for its products and AI workloads, without a headcount, so a share is read into the computing infrastructure pattern by description. |
What the filing says about the workforce: 78,865 employees, up 6% in the year; offices in more than 90 cities. The filing says it has from time to time made organizational changes and cost reductions, including restructurings, and describes its severance practices for outgoing employees.
What the filing says about AI
108 sentences in the filing name AI. AI runs through the filing as products and infrastructure (AI glasses and virtual reality devices, machine learning models behind its user metrics and ranking, AI assistants, and the data centers that serve them); the human capital section describes culture, benefits and restructurings without naming AI.
- “To calculate these metrics, we rely upon complex techniques, algorithms and machine learning models that seek to count the individual people behind user accounts, including by matching multiple user accounts within an individual product and across multiple products when we believe they are attributable to a single person, and counting such group of accounts as one person.”
- “To calculate our estimates of DAP, we currently use a series of machine learning models that are developed based on internal reviews of limited samples of user accounts and calibrated against user survey data.”
- “Our estimates of Family metrics also may change as our methodologies evolve, including through the application of new data signals or technologies, product changes, or other improvements in our user surveys, algorithms, or machine learning that may improve our ability to match accounts within and across our products or otherwise evaluate the broad population of our users.”
- “Our products enable people to connect and share through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality (VR) headsets, and AI glasses.”
- “We are innovating in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to build transformative experiences and capabilities across our Family of Apps and new platforms, and to advance our vision to deliver personal superintelligence for everyone.”
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 78,865 | 2026-01-29 | 10-K |
| 2024-12-31 | 74,067 | 2025-01-30 | 10-K |
| 2023-12-31 | 67,317 | 2024-02-02 | 10-K |
| 2022-12-31 | 86,482 | 2023-02-02 | 10-K |
| 2021-12-31 | 71,970 | 2022-02-03 | 10-K |
| 2020-12-31 | 58,604 | 2021-01-28 | 10-K |
| 2019-12-31 | 44,942 | 2020-01-30 | 10-K |
| 2018-12-31 | 35,587 | 2019-01-31 | 10-K |
| 2017-12-31 | 25,105 | 2018-02-01 | 10-K |
| 2016-12-31 | 17,048 | 2017-02-03 | 10-K |
| 2015-12-31 | 12,691 | 2016-01-28 | 10-K |
| 2014-12-31 | 9,199 | 2015-01-29 | 10-K |
| 2013-12-31 | 6,337 | 2014-01-31 | 10-K |
| 2012-12-31 | 4,619 | 2013-02-01 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- No split by kind of work or country is stated; both pattern shares follow the business description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001628280-26-003942, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Questions about this company
- How much of Meta's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 25% now and 66% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Meta's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Meta employ?
- 78,865 as of December 31, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025 states.
- What kinds of work make up Meta's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 2 industry staffing patterns, the largest Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers; by those patterns the work is about 70% desk work, 22% people work and 8% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Meta's annual report say about AI?
- 108 sentences in the filing name AI. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on October 1, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.