A former Meta software engineer says non-Chinese workers were excluded, disadvantaged and disproportionately affected by layoffs inside parts of the company, while critics of visa-worker programs argue the claims reflect broader concerns in the U.S. technology sector.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A former Meta software engineer has alleged that parts of the company’s workforce were dominated by Chinese employees and managers in ways that left American and non-Chinese workers isolated, disadvantaged and more vulnerable to layoffs, according to a Breitbart News report.
Jeremy Bernier, who said he was recently dismissed from a software engineering role at Meta, made the allegations in a series of posts describing his experience inside the company formerly known as Facebook. Meta declined to comment on Bernier’s allegations.
“At Meta, 90% of my coworkers were Chinese, and non-Chinese were routinely excluded, disadvantaged, and targeted for layoffs,” Bernier said.
He alleged that layoffs he observed disproportionately affected non-Chinese employees.
“6 out of the 7 layoffs I observed targeted non-Chinese despite non-Chinese being the vast minority. Certain org[anizations] like ads and MRS [Meta Recommendation Systems for prioritizing Facebook posts] are notorious for being Chinese dominated,” Bernier said.
Bernier also said the workplace environment left him socially excluded from coworkers.
“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,” Bernier said.
Bernier, a 2012 graduate of Virginia Tech, said he believes the issue should concern American workers competing for high-paying technology jobs inside U.S. companies.
“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 [in pay and bonuses],” Bernier said.
“Americans are practically non-existent in the most coveted, high paying tech jobs in the world at American companies in America,” he said on May 30, echoing 2025 comments by Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen.
In a May 29 post, Bernier said his prior experience overseas did not fully prepare him for what he described as cultural challenges in Big Tech.
“Anybody who is multicultural or has lived in other countries knows that cultural differences are 100% real. I knew all of this having spent 5 years living abroad across 50+ countries prior to my previous job in Big Tech working in a 90%+ foreign team, but I still underestimated it, and that only disadvantaged me. I erroneously assumed others shared the same values as me as had been the case at my previous companies,” Bernier said.
A related tweet embed highlighted one of Bernier’s posts. Other online responses were described as corroborating, validating or discussing criticism of workplace enclaves. Other comments praised Chinese managers or criticized other ethnic groups.
The claims come amid broader scrutiny of visa-worker programs and workplace practices inside major U.S. technology companies. Vice President JD Vance and other administration officials have criticized visa-worker programs that bring many foreign workers into Fortune 500 companies.
Kevin Lynn, founder of U.S. TechWorkers, said the alleged workplace dynamics can serve the interests of corporate leadership by reducing internal competition and discouraging merit-based advancement. Lynn’s group advocates for technology professionals and opposes H-1B and other visa programs that it says allow foreign professionals to replace Americans in white-collar jobs.
“Tribalism is a [C-Suite] tool that tamps down potential [internal executive] competitors because it changes incentives. If you’re either leading a tribe or you’re part of a tribe, you know you’re secure. Your position isn’t merit-based — it’s based on your race, your ethnicity, who you’re friends with, family, that kind of thing,” Lynn said.
Lynn and other critics have argued that workplace enclaves can affect product quality, innovation, professionalism and corporate dynamism.
Lynn said large companies with significant market power can tolerate internal workplace problems as long as they continue meeting investor expectations.
“Innovation, inventiveness, novel ideas take a backseat to tribalism,” Lynn said.
“When 40 percent or more of your coworkers are from another country, from another culture, and prefer to speak another language, there’s not going to be any trust, any ability to bond to build something [innovative]. So the [C-Suite] wins. Companies like BlackRock and Vanguard will [continue to] buy their securities; they’ll get their earnings per share …without any potential green shoots that could flower into [an internal or external] competitor,” he added.
“If you’re working six days a week, nine-plus hours a day, plus your commute, you’re not going to have time, if you’re an American, to work on building the better mousetrap,” Lynn said.
In 2021, Facebook paid a $14 million fine amid evidence of discrimination against American job seekers. Critics have connected such practices to visa programs that allow companies to hire foreign workers, including H-1B, L-1, H4EAD, J-1, TN and O-1 visas, as well as Optional Practical Training. Those programs keep perhaps 2.5 million foreign graduates in U.S.-based jobs.
The broader job market for young graduates has also become more difficult. The Wall Street Journal reported on May 22 that new college graduates face one of the most stressful employment markets in recent years.
“The college class of 2026 is entering one of the most nerve-racking job markets in recent memory. Employers have sharply reduced hiring—awful news for those trying to land their first job. Worries that artificial intelligence will be able to perform many of the skills graduates spent years honing are running high,” the Journal reported.
Lynn said Americans concerned about the issue should focus on political organizing, legal strategies and workplace accountability.
“Americans need to be actively engaged in talking to their elected representatives. There’s no excuse at this point to have in Seattle or in Silicon Valley any elected politician who isn’t putting the interest of American tech workers first.
“If there isn’t a good candidate to give your vote to, find others behind them. Use your influence on social media, not to make snarky comments, not to tell people what they already know, but to actually drive grassroots activism … [If] you can demonstrate that you can take a politician out of office [or] you can either put them in office … they have your attention,” Lynn said.
Lynn also said shareholder litigation over company-hosted ethnic enclaves might help over time.
“That would be a novel and worthwhile lawsuit if you can get … a shareholder that owns 0.5 percent point of the company to sue them on this … [for] working against the long-term interest of the company,” Lynn said.
Bernier has described Meta’s workplace culture as intensely competitive and isolating, while saying his comments were not intended as a personal attack on Chinese people.
“Just to be clear, most Chinese are very kind so don’t take this as an attack,” Bernier wrote.
“Meta was easily the most toxic company I’ve worked for. There’s a reason the Chinese call it ‘Squid Game’. Others refer to it as ‘Hunger Games’ or ‘Lord of the Flies’. I think they’re all accurate.
“The company culture is basically every man/woman for themselves. The performance review process (PSC) not only doesn’t incentivize helping others, if anything it actually discourages it since everyone is stack ranked [compared] against each other. Imagine working on a team where every 6 months, one of you is going to get axed. Of course it’s going to become toxic …
“The only mission bonding the company together is individual self-preservation. Save your own ass to survive for another stock vesting, and throw someone else under the bus if you need to,” he added, with one bracketed link pointing to Breitbart.
Bernier said he experienced severe management problems before transferring teams.
“I had the most toxic manager of my life here. I watched him deliberately set up a new hire to fail, driving them to needing to see a psychiatrist for anxiety + depression, and getting them fired,” he said.
“I managed to transfer out of my first team into a new team with a great manager where everyone was very smart, supportive, and hardworking,” he added.
In another post, Bernier said his Facebook ads organization was heavily Chinese and that Mandarin was commonly spoken in the office.
“The org[anization] I was in (Facebook ads) is 90% Chinese, and the entire leadership chain up to the VP level is Chinese,” Bernier wrote.
“Mandarin is the primary language at the office, except in official meetings with non-speakers. Chinese work culture is very different from American work culture, with 996 (9am-9pm, 6 days/week), top-down nature, emphasis on saving face (eg. don’t question your superiors), and toxicity being quite common,” he added.
Bernier said the cultural differences affected how dissent and disagreement were received.
“When 90% of an org and the entire leadership chain is dominated by one ethnicity, naturally their work culture is going to spill through. Chinese culture is completely different from American work culture, and learning to navigate that was a huge obstacle for me. For example I’m the type that tends to question everything and isn’t afraid to challenge a ‘superior’, but I quickly realized that my TL seemed to take offense to that, and would punish/retaliate me for it,” Bernier said.
He also said attempts to raise concerns internally were ineffective.
“I actually tried to escalate [the issue] to HR – they don’t give a shit. Their job is to protect the company from lawsuits, not provide ‘justice’. Unless you have documented evidence of something truly egregious that would put the company at legal risk, nothing will happen. If anything it just puts you at greater risk for getting fired since you’ll probably be retaliated against (remember, the TLs [Team Leaders] have the power here, followed by managers),” Bernier said.
A 2020 Project Veritas investigation involved an internal Facebook document called “Diversity Initiative.” The March 2020 document stated, “When hiring for HR positions, it’s important to prioritize H-1B visa workers, and this will stimulate the process of diversification of the workplace.”
Bernier also argued that fear of being accused of prejudice makes cultural disputes harder to discuss openly.
“One of the fatal flaws of western culture is that people are so afraid of being perceived as racist/sexist/prejudiced that they’re unable to speak honestly about differences in culture, gender, religion, even politics,” Bernier posted May 29. “The result is that westerners are more ignorant of these topics, more likely to believe nonsense like thinking that cultural and gender differences aren’t real, and more likely to be taken advantage of.”
The discussion has also raised separate security questions involving foreign nationals’ access to company security systems, intellectual property and the personal data of millions of Americans.
“Westerners are either too scared to touch this topic, or don’t care about other westerners, especially westerners in high paying industries like tech,” Bernier posted on May 30. Many — not all — “Americans would rather let their own people suffer than risk sounding racist.”
“To end on an optimistic note, the pendulum has been swinging in the right direction,” Bernier said on May 29. “I’m optimistic … but there’s still a long way to go. I don’t know what the solution is other than leaders boldly opening dialogue and steering the culture.”
A YouTube video was included in connection with the broader discussion of U.S. technology employment, H-1B visas and China.
Bernier said he doubts major changes will occur inside the organization he described while the same cultural and leadership structure remains in place.
“To be honest, 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 [Chinese] ethnicity, language, and culture,” he said.
“Nor does it seem that leadership even remotely cares given that this has been happening in the HQ for probably at least the last decade, and is obvious to anyone who’s stepped foot in the office,” he added.
Another related tweet embed was also included in coverage of the allegations.
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