The Hashtag
#TechLayoffs documented the brutal reversal as tech companies laid off 150,000+ workers in 2022-2023 after years of hiring sprees, exposing “we’re a family” rhetoric as lie.
Origins
After pandemic hiring binges, tech companies panicked in late 2022. Rising interest rates made growth-at-all-costs unsustainable. Meta, Twitter, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and hundreds of startups slashed staff.
Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover (October 2022) set the tone: 50% layoffs overnight, via email, employees locked out of systems mid-workday. Other CEOs watched and copied.
Cultural Impact
Notable mass layoffs:
- Twitter: 3,700 (50% of staff, November 2022)
- Meta: 11,000, then 10,000 more (21,000 total)
- Amazon: 27,000 across 2022-2023
- Google: 12,000 (January 2023)
- Microsoft: 10,000
- Salesforce: 8,000
- Stripe: 14%
- Coinbase: 20%, then 20% again
How it happened:
- Mass emails at midnight
- Slack access revoked
- Locked out of buildings
- H-1B visa holders given days to find new jobs or leave country
- Severance packages varied wildly
- Some found out via Twitter before official notice
The cruelty:
- Laid off while on parental leave
- Terminated after relocating for job
- Fired days before vesting equity
- “Overhired” admissions by CEOs who’d championed growth
- Lavish perks cut before layoffs (cost-cutting theater)
- Executives kept bonuses while staff cut
Worker responses:
- LinkedIn became grief platform
- #OpenToWork banner shame
- Laid-off lists to help job searches
- Mutual aid networks
- Union organizing attempts
- Quiet quitting validation
CEO statements ranged from apologetic (Sundar Pichai) to sociopathic (Elon Musk’s “hardcore” ultimatum). The hashtag exposed tech’s family rhetoric as transactional relationship.
The irony: many laid-off workers had championed disruption and gig economy—now experiencing it themselves.