iWorld
HiPi ties up with Zee Bangla’s Dance Bangla Dance
New Delhi: Short-video platform HiPi has tied up with Zee Bengal’s dance reality show -Dance Bangla Dance to provide viewers with a steady dose of interactive content, to engage on the HiPi app.
Dance Bangla Dance is back on Zee Bangla from 12 June, offering a flurry of entertainment for 22-24 weeks at stretch. Viewers can also be a part of the reality show via the HiPi app, where every week they can win cash prizes by simply showcasing their dance talent through fun hook step challenges, it said on Tuesday. Contestants will also participate in these weekly contests on HiPi giving viewers access to off-screen entertainment from their profiles on the HiPi app.
Commenting on the collaborative initiative, HiPi, Zee Digital Publishing and CBO, CEO, Rohit Chadda said, “HiPi has come a long way to expand its platform to users across the country via contests and challenges to set the benchmark for entertainment higher. The collaboration with Dance Bangla Dance is a fun initiative that gives opportunity to dance creators across India to show their talent and it shall define viewer entertainment as it should be.”
The whole contest would be divided into two parts: the creator and the viewer. As viewers, one can enjoy the dance reality show on Zee Bangla and stand a chance to win a cash prize of Rs. 9,999 every week by performing a hook step as per the weekly dance theme. Meanwhile, the creator contest each week will feature 20 Dance Bangla Dance contestants posting their videos on HiPi. While the weekly winning contestant can zero in on a cash prize of Rs.9,999, the grand winner from the 20 contestants will bag a cash prize of Rs. 2 Lakh, a 3-month contract with HiPi and a verified profile on the app.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
