Meta fires employee for sharing workplace info with wife, just hours before his bonus payout

Meta

Getting fired is never easy, but imagine losing your job for sharing something that’s already public—with your own spouse. That’s exactly what happened to Riley Berton, a former Meta employee, and his story has now gone viral.

Berton, a Staff Software Engineer, said he was let go after forwarding part of an internal post by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to his wife. The post talked about Meta cracking down on underperforming employees. By the time Berton shared it, Business Insider and The Verge had already reported on it. Despite this, Meta claimed he broke company policy and fired him.

What makes it worse is the timing—Berton was fired just one day before he was supposed to receive a bonus for his performance. He had recently earned an “Exceeds Expectations” rating, showing he was doing well at his job.

Berton pointed out how unfair the situation was. If his wife had simply read the post over his shoulder or taken a quick picture of it, he wouldn’t have been in trouble. “If I took my laptop to a reporter and let them take a photo of the post, I would not be writing this,” he wrote, frustrated at how inconsistently the rule was applied.

Berton also claims he’s not alone. “I don’t know the exact number, but hundreds of Meta employees are in the same situation,” he said. He mentioned people being fired just for sharing work stress with their partners or even saving notes on their own laptops—because those notes synced to iCloud.

Meta hasn’t responded directly to Berton’s claims, but the company has said in the past that leaking internal information, no matter the reason, is against its policies. “We take this matter seriously and will continue to take action as we identify leaks,” a spokesperson had said.

Now looking for a new job, Berton left a message for his former colleagues: “To those who avoided this witch hunt, I will miss you and I hope you create amazing products.”

His story raises a big question—should companies have the right to fire employees for sharing work updates with their loved ones, especially when that information is already public?