Asian Tech Press (Apr. 21) -- Social e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu, China's answer to Instagram, has started a new round of 20% layoffs.

Some Xiaohongshu employees said on social media platforms that the company's layoffs were in full swing, and the day they received the notice was their last day of work.

The sources said Xiaohongshu commenced a 20% company-wide layoff, with ripple effects on various departments, first from the probationary employees.

And there was only a notice of layoffs, no room for communication.

According to people close to Xiaohongshu, it was not a massive layoff, individual departments were still recruiting normally, and the overall layoff ratio did not exceed 10%.

"This round was originally in the optimization of the company's routine annual assessment," said one of the sources close to the matter, and the optimization gave employees a certain buffer period.

Xiaohongshu has not yet made a response.