[intern4tional]

No, as company employee is directly tied to and the responsibility of the company.

These companies are responsible for their employees behavior and data but they are not responsible for nor legally liable for (in most cases, some exceptions apply) the actions of a third party that they have retained to help with hiring.

In fact the contract they have with said third party likely absolves them of any liability.

The title should be: I owned an AI startup via Firebase misconfiguration.

You can even name the startup if you want. That’s not flashy though and this person wants marketing.