Meta (META) , which owns popular social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, is sick of having confidential company information leaked to the public.
Over the past few weeks, Meta has faced controversy over how it conducted its first round of job cuts this year, which involves firing 5% of its workforce, with a focus on cutting low-performing employees.
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Before the layoffs kicked off on Feb. 10, a leaked internal memo from Meta, which Business Insider viewed, revealed that its managers were given the green light to lay off high-performing employees if they couldn’t meet reduction targets solely by cutting low-performing employees.
Related: Meta’s recent layoffs take an unexpected turn
Also, just last week, a few Meta employees spoke to Insider, revealing that amid layoffs, Meta recently shrunk the value of stock grants awarded to employees by roughly 10%. This means that some employees would receive about 10% less in stock refreshers each financial quarter this year, which would vest after four years.
The move from Meta raised eyebrows as it recently increased bonuses for its executives (excluding CEO Mark Zuckerberg) by between 75% to 200% of their base salary.
Meta has also long suffered leaks that revealed upcoming product launches. An internal company memo recently revealed that Meta is planning to launch “half a dozen more AI-powered wearables” in 2025.
Meta makes a severe decision to combat leaks
Now, it appears that Meta has had enough of having its internal communications leaked to the public. According to a new report from The Verge, the company recently decided to fire about 20 employees who leaked “confidential information outside the company. “
“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,” said a Meta spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. “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. We take this seriously, and will continue to take action when we identify leaks.”
Meta previously sent a stern warning to employees
Meta’s move comes after an internal memo warning its employees not to leak private company information to the public was leaked in January.
Related: JPMorgan executive sends a harsh wake-up call to employees
“We take leaks seriously and will take action,” said Meta Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen in the leaked memo. “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.”
Rosen also revealed in the memo that the company recently fired employees who leaked sensitive information and warned that it will continue terminating the employment of any other leakers it identifies.
More Labor:
- Meta’s recent layoffs take an unexpected turn
- Goldman Sachs defends a work policy shareholders fear
- Dell CEO sends a stern wake-up call to employees
Meta’s recent job terminations comes during a time when the tech industry is rapidly cutting down its workforce. Microsoft, Intel, Workday, and Amazon are some of the many large companies that announced layoffs this year.
So far in 2025, 74 tech companies have announced job cuts, resulting in 18,397 employees being laid off, according to recent data from Layoffs.fyi.
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