U.S. News

Zuckerberg Threatens to Fire Meta Leakers, Says (Leaked) Meta Memo

THAT ZUCKS

“Everything I say leaks,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staffers in an internal meeting. “It sucks.”

CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg.
The Washington Post/Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Meta has threatened to fire staffers who are caught leaking internal information to the press, according to a leaked memo from the company.

The development comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg complained about leaks during an “all-hands” hourlong meeting with more than 70,000 employees on Thursday, the contents of which were swiftly shared with multiple media outlets including Business Insider, The New York Times, and The Verge.

“We try to be really open and then everything I say leaks,” Zuckerberg told Meta staffers in the meeting. “It sucks.”

In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, Meta’s chief information security officer, Guy Rosen, said Zuckerberg and the company “take leaks seriously and will take action.”

Leaking internal information leads to low team morale which ultimately affects productively in the workplace, he said.

“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.”

If employees are caught leaking internal information, Meta “will take appropriate action, including termination.”

Rosen said Meta recently “terminated relationships with employees who leaked confidential company information inappropriately and exfiltrated sensitive documents.”

The Daily Beast reached out to Meta for comment on Friday.

Zuckerberg’s Meta has seen a number of leaks in recent months. During Thursday’s meeting, the tech billionaire said 2025 will be a “big year” for the company.

“I want to be clear, after the last several years, we now have an opportunity to have a productive partnership with the United States government,” Zuckerberg said. “We’re going to take that.”

“I think it’s the right thing to do because there are several areas, even if we don’t agree on everything, where we have common cause for things that are going to make it so that we can serve our community better, and we can advance the interests of our country together.”

He told staffers they will need to “buckle up” for an “intense” year during which he expects a “highly intelligent and personalized” digital assistant will reach 1 billion users, according to a recording reviewed by Business Insider.

“I think whoever gets there first is going to have a long-term, durable advantage towards building one of the most important products in history,” Zuckerberg said.

Another internal memo obtained by Business Insider earlier this month revealed that the company plans to axe 5 percent of its workforce through performance-based terminations beginning in February. The move would affect some 3,600 jobs.

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.