Pinterest has terminated two engineers after they developed a tool to identify employees affected by recent layoffs and then disseminated that information, according to reports. The action underscores the increasing tension between employee privacy and transparency during periods of corporate restructuring, particularly within the tech sector.
The digital pinboard company announced significant job cuts earlier this month, with CEO Bill Ready stating the company was “doubling down on an AI-forward approach,” as shared in a LinkedIn post by a former employee. The cuts impacted approximately 15% of Pinterest’s workforce, totaling around 700 people, though the company did not initially disclose which teams or individuals were affected.
In response to the lack of clarity, two Pinterest engineers created a script to determine which employees had been laid off. A Pinterest spokesperson confirmed the incident, stating, “Two engineers wrote custom scripts improperly accessing confidential company information to identify the locations and names of all dismissed employees and then shared it more broadly. This was a clear violation of Pinterest policy and of their former colleagues’ privacy.” The spokesperson did not specify whether the information was shared internally or externally.
According to a source familiar with the firings, cited by the BBC, the script was designed to alert users of internal communication tools as employee names were removed or deactivated. This suggests the engineers’ intent was to provide a means for remaining employees to understand the scope of the layoffs and potentially offer support to those impacted.
The incident at Pinterest occurs against a backdrop of widespread job cuts in the technology industry. Amazon recently announced it would cut 16,000 roles worldwide, following a previous round of redundancies. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is cutting over 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division to prioritize resources for AI-related initiatives. Autodesk, a design software company, also announced plans to reduce its workforce by approximately 1,000 positions.
These layoffs are largely attributed to companies increasingly relying on artificial intelligence. The tech sector is undergoing a period of reassessment as investors evaluate the potential of AI platforms. Pinterest itself has been heavily investing in AI to personalize content and automate marketing tools, but its stock price has declined by more than 20% this year, reflecting investor concerns.
The situation at Pinterest also highlights a broader internal struggle within the company. CEO Bill Ready, in a company-wide meeting, emphasized the importance of alignment with the company’s direction, stating, according to CNBC, that employees who “were working against the direction of the company” or disagreed with its mission should consider seeking employment elsewhere. This statement, while framed as encouraging “healthy debate and dissent,” suggests a firm stance on enforcing a unified vision for the company’s future.
The broader trend of tech layoffs has seen significant numbers in recent years. According to data tracked by Crunchbase, at least 95,000 workers at U.S.-based tech companies were laid off in mass job cuts in 2024, and those cuts continued into 2025. TrueUp’s Layoffs Tracker indicates that in 2025 alone, 783 tech companies experienced layoffs, impacting 245,953 people. So far in , 61 layoffs have been recorded at tech companies, affecting 26,836 individuals – an average of 789 people per day.
TechCrunch reported that in February , 16,234 tech workers were laid off, a particularly high number. Throughout , Layoffs.fyi tracked over 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies. The increasing adoption of AI and automation is frequently cited as a key driver of these reductions, raising questions about the future of work and the human impact of technological advancement.
The Pinterest case, while specific to that company, serves as a microcosm of the challenges facing the tech industry as a whole: navigating rapid technological change, managing workforce reductions with sensitivity and transparency, and maintaining employee morale during periods of uncertainty. The incident also raises legal and ethical questions about employee access to confidential information and the boundaries of acceptable behavior during corporate restructuring.
