Walmart’s recent layoffs of nearly 1,500 employees have triggered a wave of misinformation, with some Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters falsely alleging that the company is replacing American workers with foreign hires on H-1B visas, allegedly targeting its Indian-origin Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Suresh Kumar, reported Financial Express.
The layoffs, affecting various departments, have been misapprehended online, particularly by some MAGA supporters.
Social media posts falsely accused Walmart of replacing US workers with H-1B visa holders, with one X user claiming, “The large layoffs today at Walmart… are from its technology team. You know, the kind of US worker who’s replaced by H1B.”
Another speculated, “1500. Wow, that’s a bloodbath. How many H-1Bs are they bringing in next year?”
A third user wrongly blamed US President Donald Trump, stating, “You are failing America each passing day Donald Trump,” despite his administration being out of office.
Contrary to the online narratives, the layoffs span multiple sectors, including Walmart’s US e-commerce segment, advertising division Walmart Connect, and other business units, not solely the tech division often associated with H-1B hires.
Bloomberg reported that the job cuts are part of a broader restructuring effort to streamline operations and enhance decision-making efficiency
An internal memo from CTO Suresh Kumar and Walmart US CEO John Furner, reviewed by
Bloomberg, clarified that the layoffs are part of a long-term operational strategy, not a move to replace workers with foreign employees.
A victim of conspiracy theories
Walmart’s Global Tech division and its CTO, Suresh Kumar, have been at the center of these baseless claims.
Kumar, an Executive Vice-President and Chief Development Officer, has over 30 years of tech industry experience, with past roles at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Born in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, he holds a BTech in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and a PhD in Control Systems from Princeton University. Kumar currently resides in Sunnyvale, California. Despite the accusations, there is no evidence linking him or the tech division to the alleged H-1B hiring practices tied to the layoffs.
