Kamal Ghorui
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has temporarily closed its office in Israel’s capital Tel Aviv, reports The Information. According to it, the company has also offered its employees without bomb shelters up to five nights in a hotel. Meta’s Tel Aviv office is the company’s main hub in Israel, combining research, development, and business operations. It has a key focus on AR/VR products and advertising technologies. The social media giant which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram employs nearly 900 employees in Tel Aviv.
Meta sends memo to staff
The company has sent a memo to its employees informing about the closure. “We understand that not everyone has access to a shelter or safe room at home during these challenging times,” the memo says. “This has led to distressing experiences for a number of our employees, and we have been looking into ways we can support you,” it further adds.
Nvidia, Amazon and other tech firms asks staff to work from home
Other than Meta, several technology companies have taken precautionary steps as the conflict in the Middle East continues to escalate. World’s biggest chipmaker Nvidia has closed its office in Dubai and asked employees to work remotely from home. Online retail giant Amazon has also instructed its employees in the Middle East to work from home and follow local government guidelines, reports said.Snap, the parent company of the social media platform Snapchat, has asked employees across its four offices in the Middle East to shift to remote work.The conflict has also affected technology infrastructure in the region. According to reports, three Amazon Web Services facilities were hit by Iran drone strikes. Two of the facilities were located in the United Arab Emirates, while one was in Bahrain.
Google employees stranded in Dubai
Google is also facing a logistical crisis as dozens of the company’s employees are stranded in Dubai after attending the cloud division’s “Accelerate” sales conference held there earlier this month. Most attendees managed to leave before the situation worsened, but a significant number remained stuck till last week as airlines have cancelled flights across the region.An internal memo sent to some Google cloud employees described the recent attacks as “concerning” and confirmed the company still had team members on the ground. Google told CNBC that the majority of those affected are not US-based but regional employees, and that it has security and safety measures in place.“The situation in the Middle East is evolving rapidly and we are monitoring it carefully. Our focus is on the safety and well-being of our employees in the region,” a Google spokesperson was then quoted as saying. Dubai serves as a major regional hub for Google’s cloud and sales operations across the Middle East and North Africa. The company is also in the process of expanding its Tel Aviv headquarters.
