A laid-off Meta engineer has alleged that he was routinely excluded and ostracised by his Chinese colleagues at the company. Meta employee Jeremy Bernier alleged race-based discrimination at the tech giant, claiming he was part of a team where “90% of his coworkers were Chinese”, and where “non-Chinese were routinely excluded, disadvantaged, and targeted for layoffs.”
A laid-off Meta employee says Chinese workers were favoured at the company (REUTERS)
Bernier was among the 8,000 employees affected by layoffs at Meta on May 20. He opened up about his experience with the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company on X.
‘6 out of 7 layoffs targeted non-Chinese’
In his lengthy post on X, Bernier claimed that certain Meta teams, particularly in ads and MRS, were “notorious for being Chinese dominated”. He alleged that despite non-Chinese employees being “the vast minority”, “6 out of the 7 layoffs I observed targeted non-Chinese”.
“I think Americans would be outraged if they knew that their own citizens were getting marginalized and laid off at their own companies, while Chinese promote themselves up, conquer entire orgs, and reap millions,” he wrote.
Bernier compared his experience at Meta with a hypothetical scenario at Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
“Imagine if Huawei in Shenzhen had entire orgs and leadership chains completely dominated by Japanese people who brazenly spoke Japanese at work without a care in the world that their Chinese coworkers don’t understand,” he wrote, adding that Chinese citizens “would be outraged” in such a situation.
‘Every single conversation was in Mandarin’
One of Bernier’s biggest complaints centred around language use inside the workplace. According to him, Mandarin was routinely used in informal interactions, leaving non-Chinese employees isolated.
(Also read: ‘Please gather any personal items and head home’: Meta tells laid-off employees. Read full text of layoff email)
“I’m not talking about one-off conversations, I’m talking about every single conversation,” he wrote. “10+ teammates and leaders having a group conversation in Mandarin while the 2 non-Chinese don’t understand and feel excluded from the team.”
He acknowledged that formal meetings were generally conducted in English, but claimed that “right after the meeting ended everyone would immediately switch to Mandarin.”
Bernier contrasted the experience with a recent trip to South Korea, where his acquaintances chose to converse in English out of respect for him.
“I was shocked that when the conversation would split into two, the other couple would speak to each other in English in my presence just out of respect,” he wrote, adding that his Chinese coworkers “did not” extend the same courtesy.
Exclusion during lunch and team events
Bernier also described feeling socially isolated during lunches and team dinners. He recalled being part of a team where there was just one other non-Chinese employee besides him.
“The Chinese would always get lunch together and never invite us,” he claimed, referring to himself and another non-Chinese colleague on the team.
He alleged that repeated exclusion made him dread coming into the office on certain days.
“On Wednesdays and Fridays I’d often be the only non-Chinese person on my team in the office, and they’d all get lunch together without inviting me. It was depressing,” he wrote.
The former Meta engineer also recounted an incident during a team dinner at a Korean barbecue restaurant where he claimed Chinese tech leads deliberately distanced themselves from non-Chinese colleagues.
(Also read: Meta employee says layoffs helped her realise her ‘soul was slowly dying’)
“These were our tech leads,” he wrote. “I could not understand how Meta could have ‘Tech Leads’ that so blatantly excluded teammates.”
According to Bernier, informal interactions such as lunches were critical to workplace dynamics.
“Lunch is extremely important for team bonding, and so much information is transferred through informal socialising,” he wrote, arguing that exclusion from such settings naturally disadvantaged minority employees.
‘I have nothing against Chinese people’
Despite his allegations, Bernier stressed that he was not attacking Chinese people as a whole.
“I have nothing against Chinese people. Most of them are very kind,” he wrote, adding that he had “many good friends who are Chinese.” However, he argued that regardless of intent, the outcome remained exclusionary.
“But regardless of intent, the result is that non-Chinese get excluded,” he said.
Bernier further claimed that some employees allegedly used their influence within internal “cliques” to survive layoffs and sideline others.
“The same people do this over and over again, and get away with it because they’re part of the ‘clique’ that essentially has immunity,” he alleged.
“The fact that 6 of the 7 layoffs I observed were not Chinese in a 80-90% Chinese dominated org is testament to this. The fact that 90% Chinese dominated orgs even exist in the first place is testament to this,” he claimed.
Calls for Meta to intervene
Bernier urged Meta leadership to take stronger action on inclusivity and workplace culture. Among his suggestions were enforcing English-speaking policies in the office, investigating discrimination complaints, and ensuring more diverse teams.
“I think the company needs to take this more seriously,” he wrote.
Still, he expressed scepticism that meaningful change would happen. “I don’t have faith that much would change so long as the entire leadership chain up to the VP level is dominated by the same ethnicity, language, and culture,” Bernier alleged.
(Also read: Meta reaches out to ex-employee for interview the same week it laid off 8,000 workers: ‘We will cut you at any moment’)
