Additional Coverage:
Pinterest Fires Engineers for Tracking Laid-Off Colleagues
San Francisco, CA – Social media giant Pinterest has confirmed the termination of two engineers who reportedly developed an internal tool to identify employees affected by recent company layoffs. The firings occurred approximately one week after Pinterest announced a 15% reduction in its workforce, citing a strategic shift towards artificial intelligence.
Prior to the layoffs, Pinterest employed roughly 4,700 individuals. The company anticipates completing its restructuring by September 30.
According to an internal source, Pinterest’s chief security officer had explicitly informed engineering staff that a comprehensive list of laid-off employees would not be disseminated, citing privacy concerns for those individuals and the company’s established privacy policies. Despite this directive, the two engineers proceeded to create an internal tool to compile a master list of all impacted employees, which was then reportedly shared more widely.
Privacy Violation Cited
A Pinterest spokesperson confirmed the engineers’ termination to CBS News, stating, “After being clearly informed that Pinterest would not broadly share information identifying impacted employees, 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.” The spokesperson further emphasized, “This was a clear violation of Pinterest policy and of their former colleagues’ privacy.”
“Obstructionist” Behavior Warning
The incident follows a recent company-wide meeting where CEO Bill Ready reportedly addressed employees, stating, “Healthy debate and dissent are expected, that’s how we make our decisions. But there’s a clear line between constructive debate and behavior that’s obstructionist.” Ready also characterized Pinterest as being at a “critical moment,” suggesting that employees who are “working against the direction of the company” should consider other employment opportunities, as reported by CNBC.
Pinterest joins a growing list of major corporations attributing job cuts to investments in artificial intelligence. Data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas indicates that in 2025, companies directly cited AI as the reason for 55,000 job cuts, a significant increase compared to just two years prior.