Snap Inc, which operates Snapchat, plans to axe “approximately” 10% of its staff, which is estimated to be around 500 people.

Snapchat said the redundancies would “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration”.

The spokesperson said: “We are focused on supporting our departing team members and we are very grateful for their hard work and many contributions to Snap.”

Most roles are expected to go in the first quarter, and it was revealed in an SEC filing that Snap could face charges of up to $75m (£60m) in severance payouts and other costs.

Its most recent annual report showed that over 500 people work for the company in the UK but it is not yet clear if any redundancies will be made in the country.

Snap previously made a round of layoffs in August 2022 with around 20% of its workers being made redundant.

The company has recently been expanding into products beyond Snapchat, including AR services, but its AR enterprise service that acted as a shopping suite was closed down in 2023.

The news of layoffs follows job cuts at tech companies including Meta, Google, Amazon and eBay.

Snap said: “In order to best position our business to execute on our highest priorities, and to ensure we have the capacity to invest incrementally to support our growth over time, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our team.”