iWorld
Instagram speaks desi as Meta adds AI translations in more languages
MUMBAI: India didn’t just steal the spotlight at Meta’s ‘House of Instagram’ event in Mumbai, it became the headline act. In a move that cements India’s status as one of Meta’s most influential creator markets, the company unveiled a fresh wave of AI-powered features designed to help creators reach wider audiences, speak to more communities, and style their content in scripts that feel authentically local.
Leading the update pack is a major language expansion, Meta AI translations will soon support reels in five new Indian languages Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi. This comes just weeks after Meta first rolled out reel translation, dubbing, and lip-sync capabilities across English, Hindi, Spanish, and Portuguese, allowing creators to fluently “speak” across continents without ever re-shooting their content.
The new additions extend that promise even further. Creators will be able to transform their reels so they look and sound fluent in multiple Indian languages, while Meta AI preserves their original tone, voice, and style. For those seeking full cinematic flair, the optional lip-sync feature will sync translated audio perfectly to their mouth movements making it appear as though they delivered the dialogue in the new language.
Meta says the goal is simple: give creators the tools to grow global followings while still staying rooted in their cultural identity.
But the language lift doesn’t stop at audio.
In a move bound to make editors and storytellers cheer, Instagram will also introduce new Indian fonts across Edits. Creators will now be able to style their text and captions in Devanagari and Bengali-Assamese scripts, supporting languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, and Assamese. The update will roll out first on Android in the coming days.
Using the new fonts remains as intuitive as ever:
1. Open your editing timeline and tap Text.
2. Click on the Aa icon to browse available fonts.
3. If your device is already set to Devanagari or Bengali-Assamese, the fonts appear by default, otherwise, a small downward swipe in the “all fonts” tab will let you filter by language.
These updates arrive on the heels of a busy month for Instagram’s creator tools. Meta recently introduced AI-powered restyling for Stories, bulk caption editing, video reversal features, lip-sync tools for photos, and access to 400 new sound effects, signalling an aggressive push to make Instagram the most versatile and creator-friendly platform in the country.
With India home to one of the world’s largest creator communities and one of Instagram’s most vibrant Meta’s message at the Mumbai event was unmistakable: the future of the platform will speak many languages, but increasingly, it will speak in India’s.
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.
