For companies in sectors such as social media, the cuts and hiring slowdowns are driven by a combination of slowing revenues, fears of inflation, and the need to conserve cash for big strategic initiatives. In their quarterly earnings reports and other corporate communications, Snap and Meta (formerly Facebook) have called out Apple's stringent privacy policies for the iPhone, which have limited social media companies' ability to leverage user data for ads. In Meta's case, hiring freezes and slashed perks are also a reflection of the company's decision to reorient its spending toward the "metaverse," or the ecosystem of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) apps that CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees as the future of tech.