>A lot of these companies are just tightening their belt early in preparation for a 2008 level recession as to not be caught off guard.

Many are also correcting for the COVID hiring bubble they went on. Seriously, Facebook went from 45k employees in 2019 to over 70k at the beginning of 2022. It's insanity not to call that a bubble. Alot of companies really went all in on "digital is the future forever" during COVID and unfortunately they have to scale back as reality sets in. Some actually did early in 2022, the larger tech companies held on but they are going to face the inevitable, hence why they started hiring freezes to try and shrink headcount through natural attrition rather than layoffs.