I read (an estimate?) somewhere that google has been doing this by not renewing contractors and cutting hiring

That's a version of this which doesn't stress out employees so the best ones don't jump the ship at first occasion.

Our org went through something similar some 6 year ago, and it was a stark contrast with previous frequent firing rounds when nobody would be secure, sometimes even best within given team were let go (ie due to current allocation issues).

But this can replace small firing ie up to 10%, not when you are doing stuff musk-style.

I'm pretty sure that's what Meta was doing 3-6 months ago, so it may still be coming.

Google's ad network is pretty ubiquitous since it spans almost all the known web. Facebook is pretty big too but relies mostly on its own platform (FB, Inst etc.). For sure Google is affected, but I imagine the impact is less.

Also one thing that shouldn't be missed: Google controls Android, the most popular mobile OS in the world (except US maybe) so it wasn't affected as strongly by Apple's clampdown.

The lesson to Zuck is clear: he absolutely needs to own the next digital platform, and in his mind its the metaverse so he's going all in. I question the decisions he makes but the reasoning seems pretty solid at least (unlike a certain Electric Car maker)