Nov 6 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is planning to begin large-scale layoffs this week that will affect thousands of employees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday citing people familiar with the matter, with an announcement planned as early as Wednesday.Facebook parent Meta in October forecasted a weak holiday quarter and significantly more costs next year wiping about $67 billion off Meta's stock market value, adding to the more than half a trillion dollars in value already lost this year.The disappointing outlook comes as Meta is contending with slowing global economic growth, competition from TikTok, privacy changes from Apple (AAPL.O), concerns about massive spending on the metaverse and the ever-present threat of regulation.The social media company had in June cut plans to hire engineers by at least 30%, with Zuckerberg warning employees to brace for an economic downturn.Several technology companies, including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Twitter Inc and Snap Inc (SNAP.N) have cut jobs and scaled back hiring in recent months as global economic growth slows due to higher interest rates, rising inflation and an energy crisis in Europe."