Facebook it was hit by scathing reports from at least a dozen US media outlets based on internal documents on Monday, just hours before the company’s planned earnings release.
The social media giant has faced a storm of criticism since its former employee French Haugen leaked internal studies showing the company was aware of the potential harm its websites were causing, prompting US lawmakers to renew pressure for its regulation.
Reports blame the head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, that the platform bows to state censors in Vietnam, allows hate speech to rise internationally due to linguistic deficiencies, and knows that its algorithm fuels toxic polarization online.
“The Facebook Papers they are so reprehensible, so disturbing, so disgusting, and should lead to swift action at the federal level, “tweeted the law professor at the Fordham University Zephyr Teachout, referring to the name that has been given to the leakage of company information.
Journalistic organizations such as The New York Times, The Washington Post and Wired are among those that have received access to the set of internal Facebook documents that Haugen originally leaked to the US authorities and that were the basis of a series of scathing articles by the Newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Facebook He described the information as a partial publication of his internal studies whose aim was to create a negative and inaccurate impression about the social network, used by billions of people.
The company plans to publish its quarterly earnings on Monday, which soared during the pandemic due to the mass use of online tools by people who sought to shelter in virus house.
Haugen, who will testify to British lawmakers on Monday, has repeatedly said that the company puts its continued growth, and therefore profits, ahead of users’ well-being and safety.
Backstage
Facebook It has already been hit by major crises, but revelations about what goes on behind the scenes at the company have fueled a frenzy of scathing reporting and a renewed push by US lawmakers to take action on social media regulation.
The article of The Washington Post published on Monday stated that Zuckerberg he had personally signed an initiative by the authoritarian government of Vietnam to limit the circulation of so-called “anti-state” publications.
A report by Politico called the documents a “treasure for Washington’s antitrust fight” against the platform, revealing insider talks by employees about the global dominance of Facebook.
Critics of Facebook they pounced last week on a report according to which the social network plans to change its name, arguing that it could be looking to distract from recent scandals and controversies.
The website report The Verge, which Facebook declined to confirm, said the company intended to showcase its ambition to be more than just a social media site.
Despite the numerous controversies it has faced Facebook, the authorities of state United They have not created substantial new legislation to regulate social media.
The company has recovered from other scandals such as Cambridge Analytica, a British consultancy that used the personal data of millions of users of Facebook to direct political ads.
Then, Zuckerberg He went to Washington to apologize and the company agreed with US regulators a payment of $ 5 billion.
AFP
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