iWorld
RVCJ Originals launch “FRIEND REQUEST SEASON 2”
Mumbai: Web series have become one of the most popular sources of entertainment today. Looking at the enormous viewership that these web series enjoy, several production houses have released their original projects that have seen massive success among viewers. RVCJ Originals witnessed similar success with “Friends Request”, a three-episode mini-series launched on Youtube in 2021.
Exciting news for all the fans, RVCJ Originals has finally announced the “FRIEND REQUEST SEASON TWO” which will be a three-episodic series and a continuation of the previous season.
The gang (Vikram, Munni, Dheeraj, Aditi & Juhi) is back with a season two full of drama. Expect nothing less than a laughter riot with many new friends this year! The second season introduces “Reyansh”, their rival, who is going to bring a lot of challenges in their lives. Tensions are at their peak as they compete against each other in the college election. But when an unfavourable situation arises for Aditi, things turn for the worse. Can the gang come together to overcome this new challenge, or will their friendship be tested like never before?
RVCJ Digital Media Pvt co-founder & CRO A. Aziz Khan. Ltd, “The response we got on Friend Request’s first season motivated us to plan the second season. However, we all know how much the audience has evolved in the past two years in terms of content consumption, so we wanted to come up with a fresh idea. And, I am happy to say that the wait was worth the result we got. It is finally time for Friend Request season 2 to hit the airwaves after a year of speculation and it has already been an enormous hit and has sparked a lot of lively conversation among friends, rivalry, love and all-over emotions. It is a power pack full of everything you can ever imagine and will make you laugh until you feel dizzy.”
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.
