Calling layoffs "trade secrets" is some real double-speak and overreach.
Sociologically it is interesting that we've hit the point where that can even be considered a point of debate.
Nobody is calling the layoffs trade secrets. The thread is about pictures of an internal slack channel, and other private information.
Is your point that it doesn't matter if those "pictures of an internal slack channel" actually contain trade secrets of if they show some people posting blue hearts to cheer up their coworkers? IANAL but I think it does matter what those pictures contain.
I was responding to the parent's statement that "restrictions on confidential information only apply to government classification of information. Private classification isn’t a 'real' thing, it’s just a breach of a private contract." This is not the case - you can be convicted of a felony and go to jail for taking a private company's confidential information. Nowhere did I call layoffs a trade secret.
Sociologically it is interesting that we've hit the point where people will misinterpret a statement in the worst possible light just so they can argue against it on the internet.
For example, Anthony Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison for illegally downloading a spreadsheet containing team goals, metrics, and status updates (out of the charges against him, that's the only one he pleaded guilty to -- the rest were dropped).