iWorld
Viu collaborates with Warner Bros. (WBITVP) to remake Pretty Little Liars in Asia
MUMBAI: Viu, a leading pan-regional OTT video service from PCCW Media Group, has teamed up with Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) to produce the latest international adaptation of the global phenomenon Pretty Little Liars. Localized in Bahasa and filmed in Bali, the series follows a group of four estranged undergrads whose group had fallen apart when their former leader went missing. The girls come back together in the face of danger, when they begin receiving messages from a mysterious figure known as "A", who threatens to expose their darkest secrets.
Viu’s strategy is to produce compelling regional content with international production quality. In line with this, it will take Pretty Little Liars, which ran for seven seasons on ABC Family/Freeform in the United States and garnered 36 Teen Choice Awards during its run, and adapt it for Southeast Asia. This follows Viu’s success with the Viu Original, Endemol Shine’s The Bridge, which was also an adaptation set in Southeast Asia.
Ms. Janice Lee, Managing Director of PCCW Media Group, said, "We engage local audiences by creating and adapting stories that have strong relevance. Pretty Little Liars is a proven show that resonates with younger viewers with similar profiles to our Viu audience, and we are pleased to begin our journey with WBITVP and bring it to our audience and platform. In line with our strategy to invest in creating content assets, in 2019 we will have a mix of Viu Original productions and will work with international partners on local adaptations that resonate with audiences in Asia."
Mr. Andrew Zein, Senior Vice President, Creative, Format Development and Sales, WBITVP, said, "Viu is one of the market leaders in local storytelling, and we are excited to partner with them in transforming Pretty Little Liars into a Southeast Asian show that builds on the original, yet is also uniquely its own story, entertaining millions of people."
The series is expected to begin airing late this year. Keeping with the tradition of multi-market, globally appealing shows, Pretty Little Liars is an Indonesia and Malaysia Viu co-production and will be available in all 17 of Viu’s worldwide markets simultaneously. Set in the fictional town of Amerta, the series will be filmed entirely on site in Indonesia’s crown jewel of Bali, and directed by award-winning filmmaker Emil Heradi (The Night Bus, Sagarmatha).
The cast represents the true diversity and talent of the region, headlined by Anya Geraldine as Hanna, Eyka Farhana as Ema, Valerie Thomas as Sabrina, Shindy Huang as Aria, and Yuki Kato as Alissa, as the famed lead quintet.
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.
