Mark Zuckerberg was humiliated on Thursday after he complained to Meta’s entire staff that his internal remarks kept getting leaked.
‘I try to be very open, and everything I say ends up leaking,’ the 40-year-old billionaire informed Meta’s over 70,000 employees during an ‘all-hands’ meeting as reported by The Verge.
‘It sucks.’
But within a few hours, Zuckerberg’s remarks at the staff meeting were also leaked to the press.
To prevent any more humiliation, Meta’s Chief Information Security Officer, Guy Rosen, took a bold move by sending an email company-wide, cautioning employees about potential ‘repercussions’ for anyone caught communicating with the press.
‘We take leaks seriously and will take action,’ he warned in the internal memo – which was also leaked to the press.
Rosen further expressed, ‘When data is stolen or leaked, the consequences go beyond just the immediate security implications. Our teams lose motivation, and we all squander time that could be better utilized for improving our products and striving towards our objectives and purpose.’
He then warned that Meta would ‘take appropriate action, including termination’ against anyone who was caught leaking, and claimed that several staffers have already been fired for doing so.
Mark Zuckerberg was left humiliated on Thursday after be complained that all of his internal communications were being leaked to the press
‘We recently terminated relationships with employees who leaked company information inappropriately and exfiltrated sensitive documents.’
Zuckerberg has faced leaks amid his attempts to cozy up to President Donald Trump in the aftermath of his electoral victory.
One employee even asked the Meta CEO whether its recent changes on content moderation had been ‘influenced by the new US president,’ Mediaite reports.
But Zuckerberg defended the changes he made to loosen restrictions on online speech and ending diversity initiatives as he doubled down on embracing the new Trump administration.
‘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,’ he said, according to the New York Times.
‘We’re going to take that.’
He went on to claim that it was ‘fundamental’ for Meta to be on better terms with governments around the world.
‘The government can sort of be actively opposing you, trying to get in the way and add a lot of friction, or can be actively trying to help you break down barriers to help you,’ the Meta CEO said. ‘It’s the right thing to do.’
Zuckerberg also defended the changes he made to loosen restrictions on online speech and ending diversity initiatives as he doubled down on embracing the new Trump administration
But Zuckerberg’s recent changes to Meta have led some employees to revolt.
He had posted a five-minute video to his Facebook profile earlier this month, vowing: ‘We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.
‘More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X, starting in the US.’
Policies protecting individuals and groups from hate speech tied to protected characteristics, as well as restrictions against referring to transgender or nonbinary individuals as ‘it’, have also been scrapped.
One employee said in the aftermath that the announcement led to ‘total chaos internally. I’d call the mood shock and disbelief,’ according to a report by 404 Media, which reviewed internal company message boards and interviewed current staff.
The employee added: ‘It’s embarrassment and shame that feels self-inflicted, different than mistakes the company has made in the past.’
Another staff member told 404: ‘No one is excited or happy about these changes. And obviously the employees who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community are especially unhappy and feel the most unsupported in this.’
Some employees even pushed back on the removal of tampons from the men’s bathroom by circulating a sign-up form for workers to purchase sanitary products and bring them to Meta headquarters in an act of protest, according to the Times.
Meta’s updated guidelines permit ‘allegations of mental illness or abnormality’ based on gender or sexual orientation, citing political and religious discourse
Some employees even pushed back on the removal of tampons from the men’s bathroom by circulating a sign-up form for workers to purchase sanitary products and bring them to Meta headquarters in an act of protest
Zuckerberg, though, said at the meeting Thursday that some of the changes – such as eliminating Meta’s DEI changes – was simply a reflection of the times.
‘We’re in the middle of a pretty rapidly changing policy and regulatory landscape that views any policy that might advantage any one group of people over another as something that is unlawful,’ he claimed.
‘Because of that, we and every other institution out there are going to need to adjust.’
The Meta CEO also said he thought the company had a ‘good track record’ on diversity and that having a diverse workforce was a strength.
Janelle Gale, Meta’s head of people, then argued that there were other types of discrimination that were not as widely recognized at Meta but still needed to be addressed.
She claimed the company had fired woman for sexual harassment and some people had been excluded due to their political beliefs.
Meta will now bring back a form of its unconscious bias training that Zuckerberg said would not just focus on ‘a few different groups.’
The Meta CEO also used the hourlong meeting – during which the questions from employees were reportedly screened – to lay out his vision for the social media giant.
He vowed that 2025 would be a significant year for potentially transformative initiatives, including a focus on artificial intelligence, data centers and the virtual Metaverse.
‘This year feels a little more like a sprint to me,’ Zuckerberg said.
‘It’s going to be a crazy year.’
