Meta has reportedly closed its office in Tel Aviv temporarily as the city faces strikes from Iran during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The Meta office is said to have a workforce of 900 employees. The report comes at a time when Tehran has doubled down on missile strikes and drone attacks on Israel.
As per a report from The Information, Meta informed its employees via an internal memo. The memo stated, “We understand that not everyone has access to a shelter or safe room at home during these challenging times.”
Meta to provide hotel stays for employees
Meta reportedly told its employees that it was going to provide hotel stays for those who did not have access to a bomb shelter. The hotel access is said to be up to five nights.
The company assured workers that it was going to support them during this time of conflict. The memo explained “This has led to distressing experiences for a number of our employees, and we have been looking into ways we can support you.”
Meta runs a research and development (R&D) office in the Israeli city that is key to the company’s operations in the country. The Tel Aviv office was established in 2013 and particularly focusses on AR/VR products for the company.
Why did Meta shut down its office in Israel?
As per the report, Meta shut down the office over the weekend following a series of missile attacks on Israel from Iran. The closure coincides with an escalation in regional tensions.
Tel Aviv is currently facing sustained missile and drone attacks from Iran. This has resulted in casualties and damage to residential, commercial, and critical infrastructure.
Officially, 11 Israelis have been killed since the conflict began on February 28, including a construction worker who was killed in a missile attack in Yehud, east of Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, Iran states that over 1,300 civilians have lost their lives in the conflict.
Iran targets data centres in Middle East
Meta’s decision comes as other technology infrastructure in the region is increasingly under threat. Recent Iranian strikes have also targeted data centres, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities in the UAE and Bahrain.
These data centres are built at costs exceeding billions of dollars and play a key role in global cloud compute infrastructure.
Amazon’s facilities faced disruption due to these attacks, including power cuts and structural damage. The company advised its clients to back up their data as recovery work continued after the attacks.
