Meta warns of termination for workers who leak company info

'Everything I say leaks. It sucks,' says CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Meta warns of termination for workers who leak company info

Meta has issued a stern warning to employees over leaking company information in a new memo that was leaked to news outlets last week.

The memo, which was issued by Meta chief information security officer (CISO) Guy Rosen, tells staff that the organisation will take appropriate action, "including termination," if it identifies leakers.

"We recently terminated relationships with employees who leaked confidential company information inappropriately and exfiltrated sensitive documents," Rosen said in the memo quoted by Fortune.

The CISO said leaked or stolen company information has repercussions beyond the immediate security impact.

"Our teams become demoralised, and we all waste time that is better spent working on our products and toward our goals and mission," he added.

'Everything I Say Leaks'

Rosen's memo comes shortly after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg lamented in an all-hands meeting about leaks.

"We try to be really open and then everything I say leaks. It sucks," Zuckerberg said in the meeting, which also leaked and was reported by various news outlets.

To manage the leaks, Meta is reformatting its question-and-answer approach to a "poll" system, where questions asked beforehand are voted on so the "main themes" of questions are addressed,

"There are a bunch of things that I think are value-destroying for me to talk about, so I'm not going to talk about those. But I think it'll be good. You all can give us feedback later," Zuckerberg said as quoted by the outlet.

"Maybe it's just the nature of running a company at scale, but it's a little bit of a bummer."

Information leaks in organisations

Organisations with massive workforces are prone to leaks that usually reveal company information or other internal matters.

Companies including Amazon, Tesla, and Apple have fallen victims to such incidents over the past years. Some recent incidents include:

  • In 2024, Google sued one of its former engineers in 2024 for allegedly stealing trade secrets related to chip designs and sharing them publicly on the internet, Reuters reported.
  • In 2022, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was reported questioning the company's office policy amid "lower productivity" of pandemic hires.
  • In 2022, an internal message from Starbucks threatening to freeze pay and benefits on workers if they unionise leaked to the media.

Addressing company leaks

Meta has been a victim to company leaks over the years - in 2019, a two-hour-long question-and-answer session with Zuckerberg about the company's future leaked to the media

Melissa Mahoney, an expert on corporate communications, previously commented on this leak with a concern that it could lead to executives "pulling back on sharing information."

"As employees of a company, we want and expect leaders to be open and transparent with us," she previously said on a LinkedIn post. "But what happens when we break that trust, by leaking information that was meant for our ears only; provided to us confidentially as a member of the organisation?"

Mahoney stressed that she is not discouraging whistleblowers from reporting illegal or unethical behaviour in the workplace.

"I'm talking about disclosing company information that was provided to employees in good faith and taking advantage of transparency," she said. "Will these types of leaks lead to executives pulling back on sharing information?"

Her reminder to leaders: there is no such thing as "internal only" or truly "off the record."

"We must be comfortable with our words printed on the front page of the Wall Street Journal," Mahoney said.