AITA for sharing a coworkers’ baby news?

A Reddit user, thrilled to announce her own pregnancy at work, casually mentioned a coworker’s baby news, assuming it was already public knowledge within the company. She’d seen his announcement on Instagram and thought others at work had, too.

However, the coworker, Brian, hadn’t told their colleagues yet and was upset by the premature reveal. Now, the user feels guilty and wonders if she was in the wrong for sharing something she thought was common knowledge. Read the full story below to see how this misunderstanding unfolded and whether she was truly at fault.

‘ AITA for sharing a coworkers’ baby news ?’

I work for a small company, about 35 people, and I go into the office once or twice a month along with a few of us who are remote. I work with a nice colleague, his name is Brian who wasn’t in this week. I was super excited to go to the office this week because after a year of miscarriages, I’m finally pregnant!

I’m about 14 weeks so I wanted to tell work and also some friends in my office who have known about my struggles. Yesterday I shared my news (via email) to HR and people were so nice to me and they came over to congratulated me, in person.

We were chatting and I mentioned “oh and Brian will be gone this fall too with his news!” And they looked baffled and I was “oh I thought he mentioned it because he posted on Instagram he’s expecting.” Brian and his wife posted their news about a month ago on Instagram (professional expecting photos in front of their new beautiful home).

I liked the post and was super excited for him! I believe it’s their first and it looked very exciting! I didn’t realize it wasn’t news to work, and his wife seems pretty far along, at least 6+ months, and father than me. After I said that, and another coworker, Penny, reached out to him to congratulate him.

Brian slacked me saying he didn’t want to tell work until next month and he’s blocked me on his socials. I apologized profusely and feel terrible. I thought because the announcement it was on social media other people from work knew and he told work.

AITA for sharing news that was on social media, where others from work follow? Or was I the AH for sharing news that wasn’t mine? FWIW, I feel terrible and wish I never did. I also apologized when he confronted me via slack.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Mother_Tradition_774 −  The problem here is you realized that these coworkers weren’t aware and you still told them. When they asked what you were talking about, you could have just said something like “oh, I must be mistaken. Disregard that.

As I was saying ….” When someone doesn’t know certain information, there’s usually a good reason why. I don’t think you had bad intentions so my vote is NAH. In the future, refrain from sharing someone else’s news, even if it’s on social media.

tinyd71 −  YTA. Brian’s news wasn’t your news to share. Congrats. on your pregnancy. That’s *your* news to share.

Right_Count −  NTA. He clearly announced it on social media; presumably he is aware you follow him. You had no way to know he was keeping it hush hush at work.

Scenarioing −  People who make very public announcements, literally to the entire world, have no business condemning people for sharing it. Especially when the fail inform anyone of a preference that it not be shared. What an AH.

alisonchains2023 −  Oh FFS, the fact that Brian posted this on social media totally makes you NTA. All these YTAs just have their panties in a wad. Don’t give them another thought.

AgnarCrackenhammer −  NTA. They made a social media post. I don’t blame you for assuming it’s common knowledge at that point.

Aggressive-Mind-2085 −  NTA. ANYTHING on public media is common knowledge.

Dashqu −  NTA. Dont post secrets you want to keep on social media. Why are people so stupid?

mewley −  Eh, it was a mistake to mention it but unless you and Brian had some previous conversation about work/friendship boundaries when you friended him on IG I wouldn’t go so far as to call you the AH for it, and I think Brian’s reaction was a little over the top.

When something is on your social media, it’s not unreasonable for people to assume it’s public. If you friend coworkers on social media, you have to be aware that you’ve got crossover between those worlds.

Obviously he had different expectations than you did about what he shares where, but it seems like a legitimate misunderstanding. Personally I keep my socials private and I don’t friend coworkers for exactly this reason – I don’t want to have to worry about it.

Trick_Photograph9758 −  NTA It was an honest mistake. If he wanted to keep it from work, he shouldn’t have posted it on his social media.

Do you think the Reddit user made an honest mistake by sharing news she saw on social media, or should she have double-checked before mentioning it at work? How would you handle a similar situation where someone else’s news might not be fully public? Share your thoughts in the comments below!