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It sounds like Mark Zuckerberg has a leaky ship, with the Meta boss swinging his scythe and reportedly firing 20 employees for revealing company secrets to the media.
Although it's unclear which departments the 20 employees were fired from or how these leaks were uncovered, Zuckerberg cracking the whip comes after several controversial memos and meetings were leaked.
2025 got off to a rocky start when Zuckerberg warned that a series of jobs could be replaced by artificial intelligence, followed by promises that he would cut low performers.
The backlash was immediate, with laid-off employees branding Meta as the 'cruelest' tech company in the world and claiming they weren't fired for being low performers.
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Leaked meeting audio suggested that Zuckerberg is steering Meta toward an AI future that will require less human staff, and keen to find the source of the leak, the Meta CEO has sent out his spies.
As reported by The Verge, 'roughly’ 20 Meta employees have been shown the door.
It sounds like this will be the start of a bigger exodus, with Meta spokesperson Dave Arnold saying: "We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent.
“We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect there will be more.”
If guilty, the fired employees can't say they weren't warned, as in more leaks, Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen said: "We take leaks seriously and will take action.
"When information is stolen or leaked, there are repercussions beyond the immediate security impact. Our teams become demoralized and we all waste time that is better spent working on our products and toward our goals and mission."
Reports that Meta employees apparently fired for leaking information
— Keith Fitz-Gerald (@fitz_keith) February 28, 2025
There's a new CEO in town... pic.twitter.com/S7981V0m03
Rosen reiterated that appropriate action could involve 'termination'. Shortly after, CTO Andrew Bosworth said Meta was "making progress on catching people."
Bosworth has previously slammed the idea of leaks (during a leak), concluding: "There’s a funny thing that’s happening with these leaks.
"When things leak, I think a lot of times people think, Ah, okay, this is leaked, therefore it’ll put pressure on us to change things. The opposite is more likely."
Divisive changes to Facebook's hate guidelines have seen Zuckerberg come under fire alongside layoffs that saw 4,000 workers get let go, with the Verge saying that morale has recently dipped.
Zuckerberg told staffers to brace for an "intense year" as Meta attempts to flood its platforms with AI users, and with promises that more leakers will he hung out to dry, we're sure there are some sweaty palms over there right now.
