New whistleblowers accuse Facebook of putting profits before moderating problematic content Washington PostAs the social media giant struggles to extricate itself from the scandal caused by the discoveries of its former engineer, Francis Haugen.
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According to an article in a US daily published on Friday, this second whistleblower is also a former Facebook team member responsible for the platform’s civil integrity who made a statement to the SEC, the stock exchange body.
In this document, a former employee of the group recounts private comments made in 2017, when the company was deciding how best to manage the controversy related to Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election via its platform.
“It’s going to be a flash in the pan. The elected officials will be groaning. And in a few weeks, they’ll have moved on. Meanwhile, we’re printing money downstairs and all is well,” said Tucker Pounds, a member of the Facebook communications team.
The second informant signed his statement on October 13, a week after Francis Hogan’s resounding testimony before the US Congress.
The former Facebook computer scientist, described by the Democratic senator as a “hero,” reiterated that the Californian group’s leaders, Mark Zuckerberg at its head, “fund their profits with our security.”
It was previously revealed to The Wall Street Journal Internal documents highlighting known abuses of social networks, such as the psychological problems of teenage girls who have been overexposed to seemingly “ideal” lives and the bodies of Instagram influencers.
according to Washington Post, the SEC statement to this new person confirms that Facebook executives regularly undermine efforts to combat disinformation, hate speech and other problematic content for fear of angering the policies of former US President Donald Trump and his allies and not risk losing users’ attention, which is essential to its huge profits.
In response to a question by AFP, Facebook spokeswoman Erin McBayk said the article was “below the standards Washington Post, which was written over the past five years only after investigating the merits and finding multiple sources.”
The Californian company has been chaining controversies for years, from its moderation of content, especially during election time, to its economic strategy, which is seen as violating competition rules by many governments.
