iWorld
Rathore urges govt. officials to aggressively use social media
NEW DELHI: Taking a cue from Prime Minister Modi’s effective use of social media, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Rathore’s message to his officials is use social media aggressively for disseminating information on government.
“We need to open up. Typically, governments have been with iron curtains all around. But today time is changing, so we first need to change our mindset,” A PTI report quoted Rathore as saying today.
The junior MIB minister was inaugurating a workshop for government officials in Press Information Bureau (PIB) on how to use Facebook more effectively for communication.
PIB is the public relations division of the government and its official under a director-general are entrusted with disseminating information on government initiatives.
Addressing PIB officials, the PTI report states, Rathore advised that the process of how information is shared from decision makers to disseminators needs to get faster and social media can play a key role as it not only shapes debates on TV but also public opinion.
According to the minister, “You cannot hide information in today’s world. You have to share that information. The idea is to send the right kind of content that people can engage with.”
Pointing out that often incorrect information regarding ministries and government departments goes on social media, Rathore advised that on such occasions the correct facts should be provided.
“That is the time you could get to the social media and correct that information. People are hungry for information,” Rathore is said to have opined as per the PTI report.
The minister compared old and present times regarding communications. He said had it been older times pigeons would have to used for communicating and the head of PIB would have had maximum number of pigeons, hinting at the amount of communication that a government undertakes as part of its outreach programme.
A lot of people dismiss social media, saying the debate going on there is “junk”, he said but emphasised that this very debate shapes what is reported on television and in the print media.
“It is shaping your mind when you sit on the dining table during dinner time and do your discussions,” he is quoted as having said.
The minister pointed out that 85 per cent of federal ministers were on Facebook and 80 per cent ministries already have verified FB accounts.
Referring to PM Modi’s love for technology and effective use of social media, Rathore says the “coach has shown the way and it is now for the athelets to act.”
Interestingly when Rathore was questioned on Twitter for this government support to a private enterprise (Facebook) as being strange, the minister tweeted back saying: “Yes, but all communication tools, public/ private need to be utilised for empowering & enhancing outreach.”
Facebook executives were present on the occasion.
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.
