Threads, Meta’s Twitter rival, is drawing users at an astounding pace, amassing 10 million sign-ups in just seven hours, according to co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. But the highly anticipated new service, which requires an Instagram account for onboarding, features an intriguing stipulation: Deleting a Threads account requires deleting the linked Instagram account.

Meta is waging its latest round of layoffs on Wednesday, estimated to impact about 6,000 people. These cuts are part of the company’s so-called “Year of Efficiency,” in which Meta is being massively restructured to save money and flatten the organization structure.

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember the metaverse, which was quietly laid to rest a few weeks ago by its grieving adoptive parent, one Mark Zuckerberg. Those of you with long memories will remember how, in October 2021, Zuck (as he is known to his friends) excitedly announced the arrival of his new adoptee, to which he had playfully assigned the nickname “The Future”.

It seems that no matter how much money Meta's Reality Labs unit loses, Mark Zuckerberg refuses to give up on the company's metaverse ambitions. In its first-quarter earnings report, Meta said Reality Labs, responsible for its metaverse-related tech, recorded a $3.99 billion operating loss. The latest figure means that since 2020, the division has lost a massive $30 billion.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that he isn't changing the company's name to include the letters A.I. anytime soon. During Meta's quarterly earnings conference call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg took aim at recent headlines that suggested the company is abandoning its ambitions to create a digital world, or "metaverse," so that it could focus instead on the A.I. craze sweeping over Silicon Valley.

Meta has laid off nearly a quarter of all employees since November. This ranks it second in a list of major tech firms who cut the most jobs

Poor, poor, Horizon Worlds. According to Facebook-turned-Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth, the company's metaverse of dead-eyed avatars has been all but abandoned by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — who, in an added blow, is instead said to be spending the bulk of his time chasing the investor-appeasing Silicon Valley squirrel that is generative AI.

will lay off 10,000 more workers and incur restructuring costs ranging from $3 billion to $5 billion, the company announced Tuesday, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg warning economic instability could continue for “many years.”

Two senators have urged Mark Zuckerberg not to open up Meta's Horizon Worlds app to younger teenagers.

Meta's investment into its vision of a VR-connected future for social media remains colossal.

Last year, Apple announced significant changes to its privacy policy to give users greater control of their data, adding opaqueness and complexity for advertisers. What Apple calls IDFA was a bold move that was set to potentially disrupt advertisers that had depended on relatively easy to gain access to user data to help target advertisements. As Apple implemented these new policies there were many questions as to which advertisers would be most significantly impacted.

Meta is betting big on virtual reality as an anchor technology for its metaverse, but VR isn't catching on yet within the mainstream.

“We built something pretty close to the right thing.”

Meta's head of people also said the company will no longer take a public stance on political issues unless the issue is "core" to Meta's business.

The metaverse is predicted to be $5 trillion in value by 2030 as per leading analysts McKinsey & Co.’s new research. These figures show that the metaverse may be just too big to ignore. Experts agree that the metaverse will influence the business ecosystem and leave imprints on all sectors.

The Notorious B.I.G., 25 years after his death, will be resurrected as a “true-to-life, hyperrealistic” avatar in a virtual-reality concert coming exclusively to Meta’s VR and Facebook platforms.

You’re better off buying three Quest 2s.

Meta has scrapped the development of its health and messaging-focused smartwatch, in an abrupt end to the company's plans to directly compete with the Apple Watch. Employees were reportedly told on Friday that work on its smartwatch project would be halted as part of a cost-cutting effort that will involve structural changes to the company.

A Meta employee says he was laid off from the company two days after relocating from India to Canada for work. Himanshu V., a software engineer from India, wrote in a LinkedIn post on November 10 that he was one of the thousands of employees affected by Meta's mass layoffs. "I relocated to Canada to join #Meta and 2 days after joining, my journey came to an end as I am impacted by the massive layoff," Himanshu, a software engineer, wrote in the post. "My heart goes out to everyone facing a difficult situation right now."

After spending about two weeks with it, here’s my takeaway: The Pro has an identity crisis. At $1,500, it’s far too expensive to be considered a consumer device for gaming. Unfortunately, most of the apps on the device haven’t been optimized for the new Pro, so it also doesn’t feel ready for professional use, either. Meta still needs VR developers who are looking to enhance the metaverse to buy the Pro and create more apps and use cases for the headset.