All posts tagged: employee

A Meta Employee Who Just Lost Their Job Was Detained by Immigration Agents

A Meta Employee Who Just Lost Their Job Was Detained by Immigration Agents

Published by skeptic

A former Meta employee who lost their job during a round of layoffs on May 20 is said to have been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days, according to communications inside the company seen by WIRED. A current employee posted about the incident on an internal Meta messaging board for immigration topics this week. The initial post was marked as “urgent” and tagged two Meta executives who focus on immigration issues and employee risk, in an attempt to escalate the issue to them. The current status of the detained worker is unknown. A spokesperson for Meta, Dave Arnold, declined to comment on the record. Representatives from ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security did not provide comment in time for publication. It is unclear whether the employee was detained by ICE, Customs and Border Protection, or another agency. Internal messages reviewed by WIRED indicate employees believe their former colleague was being detained in El Paso, Texas, where there is a major US-Mexico border crossing. On the other side is Ciudad …

Woman Says She Was Fired For Not Liking Her Job

Woman Says She Was Fired For Not Liking Her Job

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the workplace, job satisfaction and happiness are often elusive. Many people choose to stick to their unfulfilling jobs because they have few other options. Americans have normalized working a job they hate for the sake of comfort and financial necessity. But for one worker, she was let go from her job for doing just that. One woman claims she was fired because she didn’t like her job.  People can get fired for a variety of reasons: misconduct, chronic lateness, even stealing too many office supplies. Sometimes termination is fair, but other times it can feel completely unwarranted and unexpected.  Yvette Segan took to TikTok after finding herself in this exact scenario. Segan stated she was fired for no real cause. When she asked her employers why, they replied, “It just seems like you’re not really invested long-term. It seems like you really don’t like your job.” Segan admitted in her video that she clearly did not like her job, but since when are people supposed to? “I thought you just bootstrapped it and just …

SPLC Employee Funneled .2 Million To Neo-Nazi Lover – And More: DOJ Superseding Indictment

SPLC Employee Funneled $1.2 Million To Neo-Nazi Lover – And More: DOJ Superseding Indictment

Published by Jenni Sidey

The Southern Poverty Law Center built a massive empire – ballooning to over $787 million in assets – by promising donors it was the frontline defender against “hate” and white supremacy. But according to the Department of Justice’s superseding indictment, the organization allegedly funneled millions in tax-exempt donor dollars to the very extremists it publicly condemned. The Juiciest Revelation: The $1.2 Million Romantic Entanglement One of the most shocking details involves “F-9” – a field source affiliated with the neo-Nazi National Alliance. The SPLC allegedly paid this individual over $1.2 million while F-9 was in a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee. While on the SPLC payroll, F-9 reportedly continued raising funds for the National Alliance. 1⃣ NATIONAL ALLIANCE SPLC paid over $1.2M to “F-9,” who was in a romantic relationship with an SPLC employee While receiving SPLC donors’ money, F-9 also raised funds for the National Alliance. 5/20 – Tyler O’Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 3, 2026 Other Damning Allegations From The Superseding Indictment F-30 (Nazi/KKK/Aryan Nations leader): Paid more than $70K after asking to leave …

Uber caps employee AI spending after blowing through budget in 4 months

Uber caps employee AI spending after blowing through budget in 4 months

Published by skeptic

AI is getting expensive, and some companies are cutting back on usage in an attempt to moderate costs. That cohort includes Uber, which recently instituted internal usage caps as a way to cut down on its exorbitant AI spend. Bloomberg reports that the company has instituted a new rule that places a monthly $1,500 cap per employee and per agentic coding tool, including Anthropic’s Claude Code or Cursor. The usage is trackable via an internal dashboard that each employee has access to, although — in certain cases — the caps can be exceeded with permission, the company says. The news is perhaps not too surprising, since, in April, the company’s CTO revealed that the ridesharing giant had blown through its entire annual AI budget in a matter of four months. That appears to have occurred after Uber encouraged staff to use AI “as much as possible” and even ranked their internal usage competitively on internal leader boards, The Information previously reported. Uber’s COO, Andrew Macdonald, also recently cast doubt on AI’s productivity impact, noting during …

Meta faces employee backlash over tracking tool

Meta faces employee backlash over tracking tool

Published by skeptic

In April, Reuters reported that Meta would track U.S. employees’ mouse movements and keystrokes to train its AI agents. Weeks later, Meta laid off 8,000 employees, citing its AI push. Now, the company is facing backlash from remaining employees over the tracking tool, called Model Capability Initiative (MCI), which may also violate European Union privacy rules, Reuters reports. Last month, the company apparently told U.S. employees that it launched MCI to track how they work — including clicks and dropdown menu navigation — to build AI agents that can perform software tasks, Reuters reported. They were also told this would only impact employees in the U.S. and that privacy safeguards were in place. SEE ALSO: Meta plans to make an AI pendant and more smart glasses soon Some employees have already complained about MCI, calling Meta an “Employee Data Extraction Factory,” Reuters reported. One complaint is that the tool is using so much data that workers’ home internet usage has spiked, and in some cases, using a month’s quota in days. Another complaint is that …

Google Employee Charged With Using Confidential Search Data to Make .2 Million on Polymarket

Google Employee Charged With Using Confidential Search Data to Make $1.2 Million on Polymarket

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. prosecutors slapped insider trading charges against a Google employee this week, alleging the software engineer used confidential company information to pocket more than $1.2 million from prediction market platform Polymarket with bets on search trends. In a complaint unsealed in New York, authorities identified the employee as 36-year-old Michele Spagnuolo — an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland who has worked for Google since 2014. Under the online name “AlphaRaccoon,” they alleged, Spagnuolo used the company’s 2025 “Year in Search” data before it was published to enter Polymarket wagers about the most trending Googled people of last year. This week’s charges “reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,” Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Wednesday. “Insider trading compromises the integrity of our markets, and the American people want this greed-driven conduct investigated and prosecuted.” Spagnuolo allegedly made new Polymarket trades as Google’s internal search data evolved, from October into December of last year. For …

Google employee charged with insider trading over Polymarket bets | Crime News

Google employee charged with insider trading over Polymarket bets | Crime News

Published by Sam Flores

Michele Spagnuolo allegedly used insider information to profit from bets on people on Google’s most-searched list. Published On 28 May 202628 May 2026 A Google software engineer has been charged with fraud by US authorities after allegedly using insider information to win more than $1.2m in bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket. Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland, is accused of using confidential information to wager on the results of Google’s annual most-searched list, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Wednesday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list US prosecutors accuse Spagnuolo of using an account named “AlphaRaccoon” to make trades on various markets linked to the results of Google’s 2025 Year in Search. The total sum of the bets was approximately $2.75m, according to the complaint, filed in federal court in New York. Among the bets, Spagnuolo successfully predicted that indie pop musician d4vd would top the list for the most-searched for person last year, hours after accessing confidential data at Google, according to prosecutors. Spagnuolo, 36, faces charges …

DOJ charges Google employee over Polymarket trades : NPR

DOJ charges Google employee over Polymarket trades : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

An aerial view shows Google’s “Googleplex” corporate office in Mountain View, California on May 20, 2026. Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images A Google software engineer has been charged with using confidential company information to make $1.2 million on Polymarket, in the second known federal criminal case connected to lucrative trades on a prediction market site. Michele Spagnuolo, 36, an Italian citizen who lives in Switzerland, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and other counts for allegedly placing bets on search trends based on internal Google data that tracked user searches. “Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google’s confidential, commercially valuable internal data,” according to the federal indictment, which authorities unsealed on Wednesday. Prosecutors say Spagnuolo, operating under the username AlphaRaccoon, placed a number of wagers on Google’s most-searched person of 2025. He bet nearly $1 million that Kanye West’s wife, Bianca Censori, would …

Hardworking Employee Spent 15 Years At Company Just To Be Fired In A 5-Minute Meeting

Hardworking Employee Spent 15 Years At Company Just To Be Fired In A 5-Minute Meeting

Published by Jenni Sidey

Right now, the job market is as volatile as ever. You never know what may be coming next, even if you feel relatively secure. One woman learned this the hard way when she lost her job in a five-minute meeting after 15 years of hard work. Monica Adele is a career coach who helps laid-off professionals start their own consulting businesses. She shared one of her client’s stories on TikTok, underscoring how fragile the working world can be. A career coach shared the story of an employee who devoted 15 years to a company only to be fired in 5 minutes. “I did a consult with a professional who worked in the healthcare field, and basically, they were fired within five minutes, in a five-minute meeting, versus working 15 years, a dedicated employee at this hospital,” Adele said. The employee emphasized the hard work she had put in at this job. “I worked in different departments. I was always flexible with my schedule. I came in sometimes on my off days. I worked overtime, came …

FAA employee charged with Trump death threat in New Hampshire

FAA employee charged with Trump death threat in New Hampshire

Published by Sam Flores

A Federal Aviation Administration flag flies at the Orville Wright Federal Building which houses the FAA headquarters, in Washington, June 2025. Kevin Carter | Getty Images A Federal Aviation Administration employee in New Hampshire was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump, whom he criticized for the war against Iran, the U.S. attorney’s office in Concord said Tuesday. Dean DelleChiaie, 35, who was arrested Monday, allegedly conducted internet searches on his government work computer in late January for terms that drew the attention of the U.S. Secret Service, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Those subjects included “how to get a gun into a federal facility, previous assassination attempts against the President, the percentage of the population that wants the President dead, and the phrase ‘I am going to kill Donald John Trump,” according to an affidavit filed to support the criminal complaint against the Nashau resident. DelleChiaie also searched for the locations of the homes of Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the affidavit said. The FAA’s Information Technology …