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Meta has fired several staff members after recent leaks of confidential memos, with the possibility of more terminations to follow.
Speaking to The Verge, a Meta spokesperson confirmed that roughly “20 employees” lost their roles at the tech company after a recent investigation.
The firings come amid a series of ongoing leaks of confidential communications between Meta leadership and staff, including a memo in which CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised an “intense year” of layoffs for “low-performers.”
Meta cracks down on employees found to be ‘sharing confidential information’
According Meta’s spokesperson, Dave Arnold, the company is explicit with staff about the zero-tolerance policy for leaking memos or any other internal documents.
“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,” he explained. “We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company.”
The investigations will continue, with Arnold adding: “We expect there will be more. We take this seriously, and will continue to take action when we identify leaks.”
Recent weeks have seen many leaked memos and information shared with outlets such as Business Insider. In early February, before the company began a round of job cuts to trim 5% of its workforce, a full note sent by Zuckerberg to his managers detailed the company’s strict strategy for 2025.
“This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” he wrote. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster.”
Other leaks have included details about commercial strategy, product launches, and an unpopular move to slash staff stock awards by 10% while hiking executive bonuses by up to 200%.
Leaks leading to demoralization, exec says
In January, a memo warning employees about leaking information externally and the company’s zero-tolerance policy was – you guessed it – leaked to outlets.
“We take leaks seriously and will take action,” wrote Guy Rosen, Chief Information Security Officer at Meta. “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.”
Meta staff were given another reminder after the recent impromptu all-hands meeting in which Zuckerberg promised intensity, told his workforce to “buckle up” and defended his decision to scrap the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs due to a “pretty rapidly changing policy and regulatory landscape.”
When his comments were leaked to the media, employees were once again told not to leak internal conversations or information, with Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer at Meta, warning leakers that the firm was “making progress on catching people.”
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In February, an internal Q&A with Bosworth was also leaked. “There’s a funny thing that’s happening with these leaks,” Bosworth said, as reported by The Verge. “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.”
Meta's tough stance on company policy violations
Meta’s recent public statement offered no further clarity into which leaks the firings related to nor which employees were responsible, but the spokesperson cemented the firm’s commitment to rooting out and terminating employees who breach the policy.
The tech giant has previously shown it is prepared to take a hard line on employees who break company rules. In October 2024, it fired over two dozen employees over the misuse of a company perk.
The workts from Meta’s Los Angeles office were accused of using a $25 meal credit to purchase items including wine glasses, toothpaste, and acne pads, ignoring a corporate policy that states the credits are only to be used for the purchase of food and beverages.
"We take these violations seriously and have taken appropriate action to uphold our standards," a spokesperson for Meta said at the time.
