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Facebook is to hire 500 staff in London, European head Nicola Mendelsohn has said today. Speaking at an event by the Confederation of British Industry, Mendelsohn said the ad platform will have 1,500 people on payroll in the capital next year. She said: "We have 1,000 people working in our offices in London, but we're going …

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  1. Khaptain Silver badge

    1000 real people

    Is that 1000 real people or just the equivalent of 1000 "people" with FB accounts.

    What will this future total of 1500 people actually do ? Sift the pre-truth, post-truth posts ? Remove FB accounts showing pictures of war victims ?

    I don't have an FB account so it is not easy to imagine what these people will actually be employed to do. The fact that 500 new jobs being created is excellent, I just hope that their jobs involve more than creating new posts.

    8 0 Reply
    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: 1000 real people

      involve more than creating new posts

      You do not alter reality by creating new posts. There are enough people out there to do that already.

      You do that by selectively deleting or promoting them.

      2 1 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 1000 real people

      it is not easy to imagine what these people will actually be employed to do.

      I would guess they'll be a sales force to try and drum advertising revenues. So although glossed up as "tech company hires happenin' peeps 4 da noo London 'quarters" (Note 1), it probably just means "tax dodger seeks sales droids to bolster their top line".

      1) As you can tell, I'm rocking it down wiv the yoof (complete with my zimmer frame). Chillax, bros! Lets tope some peng! Whatevs, latez! Yo! (Note 2)

      2) Think of me as the Honey G of tech. Bwahahahahahahaaa!

      4 0 Reply
      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: 1000 real people

        1) As you can tell, I'm rocking it down wiv the yoof (complete with my zimmer frame). Chillax, bros! Lets tope some peng! Whatevs, latez! Yo!

        I'm trying to work out which sub-dialect of Jive this is..

        0 0 Reply
  2. Pen-y-gors

    Where are they employed?

    No doubt 499 of the 500 will technically be employed by Facebook (Liberia) plc who charge an NI rate 50p per employee per year, so they will pay NI to the UK for 1 person less some clever rebates.

    Cynical? Moi?

    4 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Where are they employed?

      Cynical? Moi?

      Cynical, yes. Right, maybe not.

      Local employment taxes and rules are very difficult to dodge, as Uber have recently found. Thinking about other tax avoiders like Starbucks and Amazon, it is only the property and employment taxes that they DO pay.

      1 0 Reply
  3. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

    But...

    will Facebook carry on avoiding paying Corporation Tax in the UK?

    They do business here and earn profits here so should pay all their due taxes and not get out of paying it due to some licensing issues and tax shelters.

    1 0 Reply
  4. The Man Who Fell To Earth Silver badge
    WTF?

    Facebook Must Really Suck At Machine Learning

    As Elad Gil said, why would you want to work there?

    http://blog.eladgil.com/2016/11/facebook-must-really-suck-at-machine.html

    0 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

    Even putting more in Basingstoke would be an improvement. But then, FB really only hires millenials, and they love their urban lifestyles.

    2 0 Reply
    1. cosymart
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

      Basingstoke, Basingstoke..... Not Basingstoke, really? It'll be Slough next and then where will we be?

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

        It'll be Slough next and then where will we be?

        I did live and work in Slough for a time, and I can confirm that John Betjeman was quite right almost 80 years ago.

        Note for Spotty Yoofs: You won't know what I'm on about, will you?

        0 0 Reply
    2. Pen-y-gors
      Reply Icon

      Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

      Oh come on, I know they are going to work for - gasp! Facebook - but would you wish Basingstoke even on such damned souls as them?

      0 0 Reply
    3. Warm Braw
      Reply Icon

      Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

      putting more in Basingstoke would be an improvement

      First Brexit, then Trump and now a positive view of Basingstoke. How the world has changed.

      5 0 Reply
      1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

        Could be worse, could be Swindon.

        I was dead for 2 hrs... and that was an improvement on a day in Swindon

        2 0 Reply
        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

          Could be worse, could be Swindon.

          Oi! Swindon has nice bits y'know. Or so I'm told.. Maybe Royal Wooden Bucket qualifies..

          0 0 Reply
    4. wikkity
      Reply Icon

      Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

      It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside the South

      FTFY

      0 0 Reply
    5. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: It would be nice to see some tech jobs outside London

      Basingstoke

      BraisingSteak? Might as well be That Lunnon.

      How about Brizzle? Or Shepton Mallet?

      0 0 Reply
  6. CrosscutSaw

    Do it for her

    Simpsons made me sniffle on that one....

    0 0 Reply
  7. Jess

    This and Google's plan seem like hedging their bets.

    If we end up with a hard brexit then the 60ish % of multinationals whose EEA HQ is not in the UK will need to set up UK (or English) HQs.

    (This will offset some of the loss caused by the other 40% downsizing to handle 12% of the population).

    However, if we remain in the EEA, but outside the EU then those multinationals that get up to shenanigans to avoid tax might find the UK more advantageous than the Republic of Ireland, now the EU is looking into them.

    I suspect the desire for the latter is the reason the announcements have been made now, rather waiting for those in charge of the Dogs' Brexit finally come up with something first.

    Soft Brexit might actually turn out to be advantageous to our sector. (Hard Brexit would be a disaster.)

    1 0 Reply

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