I'm curious if you're actually a programmer or working in programming in any capacity? One thing here to understand is that you won't really be able to see OP's perspective if you haven't worked in this for at least a few years.

Though I agree that there could've been a better way to handle it (OP states it), your tone sounds almost like you’re that bad manager. As a manager you’re as much a cog as anyone else, and you need to be accountable downwards and upwards. A good company understands that.

Ideally it should’ve been that OP just quietly switched teams or found another job.

But I’m glad that this got posted. I don’t want to work at a company that I don’t have an opportunity to criticize their internal structures with valid rational reasoning. Being fired is ok, but being marked as bad cultural fit is clearly a retaliatory move, which is not just bitter from the company but also from the HR department at Spotify, especially that no one asked OP’s colleagues.

This seems like a thing in Swedish medium/big tech companies, at least from what we read about Klarna last month.