When Every Word Becomes Public

The Era of Total Recording: Why Professional Communication Requires Rethinking

In 2025, any conversation is potentially public. This is not paranoia. This is the new reality of professional communication.

When recordings change careers

In November 2024, Campbell Soup Vice President Martin Bally met with a subordinate at a Michigan restaurant to discuss salary. Instead, he launched into an hour-long tirade about how the company makes products for poor people that he himself doesn't buy. The employee recorded the entire conversation. In January 2025, he reported the remarks to management. Twenty days later, he was fired. In November 2025, the recording went public. Bally was terminated immediately. Campbell Soup suffered reputational damage during the peak holiday season when families across America were stocking up on soup.

This is legal. Michigan permits recording conversations without the other party's consent. In most jurisdictions, recording your own conversations requires no notification.

In January 2024, Cloudflare analyst Brittany Pietsch recorded her termination via Zoom. Two HR employees she had never met informed her of contract termination due to poor performance. She asked for specific examples. They couldn't provide any. The recording went to TikTok. The video garnered 1.8 million views in the first few days. Cloudflare's CEO publicly acknowledged the process was handled incorrectly. Pietsch's manager wasn't present at the meeting. She herself was unaware of any performance issues until the moment of termination.

In March 2024, Russian state media published a 38-minute recording of senior German Air Force officers. They were discussing possible Taurus missile deliveries to Ukraine and potential strikes on the Crimean Bridge. The conversation was conducted through WebEx, a public video conferencing platform. Germany was forced to launch an investigation. Chancellor Scholz called it a very serious matter. The diplomatic scandal erupted instantly.

Technological context

The reasons are obvious. AI assistants with built-in recording and transcription features (Otter.ai, Fireflies, integrated solutions in Zoom and Teams) have become the norm. People enable them for notes, not always realizing they're creating legally significant documents.

Mobile applications have turned every smartphone into a professional-quality recorder. Recording happens in the background. Processing occurs locally. Consent for use isn't required in most jurisdictions for personal conversations.

The culture of transparency and accountability stimulates fixing agreements. "I have a recording" has become an argument in disputes about what was said.

Correspondence as public document

If recording conversations requires technical preparation, screenshots of correspondence are instant. Every message in LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Telegram, or corporate Slack will potentially become a public post.

The mechanics are trivially simple. Screenshot. Publication on Twitter or in professional community. Request for validation from audience ("Look how a recruiter from Company X communicates with me," "Is it normal for HR to write this to me?," "Is this an adequate offer from an employer?").

Over the past 2 years, I've observed a persistent trend. Candidates publish correspondence with recruiters offering non-competitive compensation. HR specialists find their messages in industry chats with comments about professionalism. Managers discover internal correspondence in public channels about corporate culture.

The peculiarity is that context disappears. Long correspondence reduces to a single screenshot. Nuances are lost. Only what looks most provocative remains. The audience sees a fragment and delivers a verdict. Nobody waits for answers to "What came before?" and "How did it end?"

Examples from my practice over the past year. A recruiter sent a candidate a message with a position description, accidentally copying internal comments about budget ("Maximum we can give X, but we'll start with Y"). The screenshot ended up in a professional Telegram channel. Discussion gathered hundreds of comments about how companies deceive candidates.

An HR director wrote an employee in corporate messenger candid feedback after an unsuccessful internal interview. Formulations were direct, without diplomatic turns ("Your presentation was weak, we don't see you in this role"). The message was posted in a chat about company corporate culture. Comments predictably accused management of toxicity.

A hiring manager sent a candidate a rejection with explanation ("We chose someone with more relevant fintech experience"). The candidate published a screenshot with a question to the audience ("Is it normal to receive such form letters after 5 interview rounds?"). The post collected thousands of reactions. The company's reputation as an employer suffered measurably.

Culture of public trial

Social networks have created a mechanism for instant public trial. A person feeling unfairly wronged gets a tool for immediate revenge. Publication of correspondence. Request for validation from community. Receipt of support from hundreds of strangers.

This works because audiences love drama. Conflict between employer and candidate, manager and subordinate, client and service provider attracts attention. Social media algorithms amplify this because conflict content generates engagement.

The result is predictable. Professional correspondence has ceased to be private. Every message is written with the thought "What if this gets published?"

New rules of professional speech

Adaptation to this reality requires rethinking communication habits.

Presumption of publicity. Any statement in professional context will potentially become public. Any message in messenger can turn into a screenshot with thousands of views. Formulation you use in negotiations must withstand publication without context.

Precision of formulations. Informal promises in correspondence ("we'll consider a raise in six months"), vague assessments ("this candidate is weak"), emotional characterizations ("the team is somewhat toxic"), sarcastic comments ("well, you're something with your salary expectations") can be fixed, taken out of context, and used against you.

Managing expectations. If previously it was possible to soften rejection with vague formulations in personal messages, now this creates legal and reputational risks. "We're not ready yet, but we'll get back to you later" in a screenshot sounds like a promise the company didn't fulfill. The audience will deliver a verdict: the company leads candidates on.

Symmetrical fixation. If you suspect your correspondence might be published (and you should always suspect this), save the full version of dialogue yourself. Having context protects against manipulation through extracted fragments. When a provocative screenshot appears in public space, the ability to publish full correspondence changes the narrative.

Written vs. oral communication. Sensitive topics should be discussed orally, not in correspondence. A phone call is harder to capture than a messenger message. Personal meeting is even safer. Simple rule: the higher the risk of misinterpretation, the less suitable written communication.

Professional discipline

Working in conditions of total fixation doesn't mean paranoid caution. It means professional discipline.

Don't write what you're not ready to stand behind publicly. Don't make promises in correspondence you can't fulfill. Don't use characterizations of people you're not ready to repeat to their face. Don't discuss third parties in terms you wouldn't want to see in public space. Don't allow yourself sarcasm and irony that without intonation turns into insult.

This isn't censorship. This is communication hygiene.

Over 25 years working in executive search, I've observed evolution. In the 2000s, confidential conversations were actually confidential. Email correspondence remained private. In the 2010s, first cases of leaks appeared. Someone forwarded internal letters to journalists. In the 2020s, recording and publication became presumption. Candidates record interviews to protect against incorrect questions. Employers fix compensation negotiations to avoid disputes about agreements. Managers save meetings to have proof of what was said. Everyone publishes screenshots to get validation from community.

Organizational level

Companies should develop policies regarding communication fixation. Include in employment contracts and NDAs conditions for recording work conversations and publishing correspondence. Train managers in communication under conditions of potential publicity. Implement practice of official recording of critical agreements to avoid relying on uncontrolled recordings and screenshots.

Create internal guidelines for professional correspondence. Which topics are discussed only orally. Which formulations are unacceptable in written communication. How to give difficult feedback without creating reputational risks.

In financial institutions and regulated industries, this is already the norm. All trader calls are automatically recorded. Client meetings are documented. Correspondence is archived and checked by compliance services. The industry has learned to live in full fixation mode. The rest of the corporate world must follow the same path.

Practical conclusion

Professional communication in 2025 functions in the paradigm of "everything can become public." Every conversation can be recorded. Every message can be published. Every formulation can be taken out of context and subjected to judgment by thousands of strangers.

Resisting this is pointless. Technology has made fixation too simple. Cultural context has legitimized this practice. Social networks have created a mechanism for instant public trial.

Adaptation requires not paranoid caution but professional honesty. Speak and write only what you're ready to stand behind. In a world where every word can be fixed and reproduced, this becomes not a moral imperative but a basic competency.

The intelligence services rule has become a universal principle of professional life. Say only what you're not afraid to hear in wiretap. Write only what you're not afraid to see in a screenshot with thousands of views. The sooner we accept this, the fewer reputational catastrophes we'll see in the future.