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Pinterest Fires Engineers Over Layoff Tracking Tool

CEO Bill Ready accused them of obstruction, privacy violations
Posted Feb 4, 2026 9:14 AM CST
Pinterest Fires Engineers Who Tried to Track Layoffs
Banners for Pinterest, displayed to mark the fifth anniversary of the company's listing, hang on the front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.   (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Pinterest employees who tried to map out who was losing their jobs ended up losing theirs. CEO Bill Ready told staff at an all-hands meeting Friday that several engineers were fired after they built an internal tool to tally the company's layoffs, CNBC reports. He drew a line between "healthy debate" and what he called obstruction, saying workers who oppose the company's direction should consider moving on. Pinterest, which announced in late January that it would cut no more than 15% of its staff and shrink office space as it shifts resources to artificial intelligence, has declined to share detailed layoff data, citing privacy.

A company spokesperson said two engineers wrote scripts to pull confidential information identifying laid-off employees and shared it more widely, calling it a "clear violation" of policy and colleagues' privacy. The scripts flagged when employees were removed from internal systems or team communications, per the BBC. Ready framed the restructuring as a "critical moment" as Pinterest races to build AI products and fend off competition from tech giants and emerging AI shopping tools. "As a small purpose driven player competing against the largest companies in the history of the world, the only way that we succeed is if we work together," he said. The stock is down about 20% this year.

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