Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is set to cut around 4,000 jobs over the next two years as the carmaker faces growing competition from China, US tariffs and the costly transition to electric vehicles.

The redundancies will mainly affect employees at JLR’s UK-based head office. The company currently employs around 43,000 people worldwide.

JLR’s challenges were compounded by a cyber-attack last year that forced the company to halt production for more than a month.

Chief executive PB Balaji said the company was committed to supporting affected employees throughout the redundancy process.

“The automotive industry faces significant challenges, with technological change amidst intense competition and ongoing geo-political uncertainty,” he said.

JLR hopes to achieve most of the reductions through voluntary redundancy, with employees able to apply until 4 October. However, the company warned that compulsory redundancies could follow if insufficient staff volunteer, with less generous terms.

The affected employees are expected to receive details of the proposals by email in the coming days.

The job cuts form part of a wider effort to save £1.7bn over the next two years as JLR seeks to strengthen its finances and adapt to changing conditions in the global automotive industry.

David Bailey, professor of business and economics at Birmingham University, described JLR as “as strategically important as it gets for the UK economy”.

Uber is set to cut more than 3,000 jobs worldwide as part of a major restructuring aimed at reducing management layers and redirecting spending towards the company’s core businesses.

The cuts represent about 10% of Uber’s global workforce and will reduce staffing to levels last seen in 2021.

Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi told employees in an internal email that Uber had grown rapidly but had accumulated too many management layers and small teams, which had slowed decision-making.

He said the restructuring would make the company “simpler” and “faster”, while allowing it to free up funds for its biggest growth opportunities.

The job cuts will affect both managers and non-managers. Uber also plans to combine many of its smallest teams into larger groups, although it has not yet revealed which locations will be most affected.

Uber shares rose by nearly 2% following the announcement, suggesting investors welcomed the restructuring plans.

Analysts estimate the changes could generate as much as $2bn in annual savings for the company.

The restructuring comes as Uber increases investment in autonomous vehicle partnerships and expands its ride-hailing, food delivery and robotaxi operations.

The company is also changing its workplace policy, requiring almost all employees to work in person from designated hubs. Remote positions are expected to account for only about 1% of its workforce.

Unlike many major technology companies that have reduced headcount following heavy investment in artificial intelligence, Uber had largely avoided significant job cuts since the pandemic.

Meta has agreed to pay up to $18bn (£13.3bn) to settle claims brought by US states that Facebook and Instagram harmed children, in what would be the company’s largest payment over child safety litigation.

The settlement covers 48 states, as well as the District of Columbia and three US territories. It still requires approval from a judge in California.

As part of the agreement, Meta will introduce a series of measures designed to give parents greater control over how children use its platforms.

The company has denied wrongdoing and said the settlement payment will be made in annual instalments over 10 years.

“This is a major moment to clean up an industry that has been hurting our kids,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.

The original lawsuit was filed in 2023 by 29 states, which accused Meta of violating federal and state child privacy laws and using features designed to keep young users engaged on its platforms.

One state not included in the settlement is New Mexico. Last month, a federal judge there ruled that Meta’s conduct constituted a “public nuisance”, comparing the harm to that associated with air pollution, and ordered the company to pay almost $1bn in combined fines.

Under the new settlement, Meta will introduce a number of restrictions for teenage users.

A “night mode” feature, which blocks notifications between midnight and 06:00, will be switched on by default. Parents or guardians will be able to control whether the setting can be disabled.

Teenagers will also face a default two-hour daily limit across Instagram and Facebook. The limit can only be disabled with parental permission.

Other measures include:

• Hiding “likes” on teenagers’ profiles and on posts they interact with.
• Introducing “school mode”, which will mute notifications between 08:00 and 15:00 on school days.
• Sending prompts after 15 minutes of continuous use, followed by notifications at 60 and 90 minutes of cumulative use.
• Allowing teenagers to choose a feed that is not driven by an algorithm.
• Giving users the option to disable video and content autoplay.
• Removing access to extreme make-up filters for teenage users.

Meta’s chief legal officer, C J Mahoney, said the agreement would give parents greater control over how their children access the company’s platforms.

The daily usage limit could become even stricter if other major social media companies agree to similar restrictions. Under the settlement, the limit would fall to one hour a day if platforms including TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube introduce new restrictions for young users.