A costly tool, and a changing relationship
Meta’s decline in Claude Code use reflects both layoffs and the push behind its own tools, Muse Code and MetaCode. The company had already begun cutting AI spending in June.
Cost control is one possible explanation for reducing Claude use. But there is a strategic tension too: Meta has less reason to support Anthropic as Anthropic sells products that compete with its own.
Reports also say Meta wanted to restrict Anthropic’s access to its training data. The irony is hard to miss: Meta is concerned about another company using its data.
Microsoft has its own exposure
Anthropic’s growth puts pressure on companies that have been in the market longer. For Microsoft, the concern is that products such as Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work increasingly compete with Office.
I think the spending figure makes the pullback look less like a routine vendor switch and more like a relationship Meta now has reason to reconsider. But the announcement leaves a key point unclear: how much of the drop came from layoffs, how much from Meta’s own tools, and how much from a decision to stop investing in a growing competitor.
For Microsoft, the pressure is different: Anthropic’s products are competing not just for a place in a company’s AI stack, but for ground held by Office.
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