Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct 23: Facebook’s problems do not appear to be going away anytime soon. A new whistleblower has unearthed some new information about Facebook. The social media giant has been accused of harbouring hate speech and unlawful conduct, according to a former employee of Facebook’s integrity team who has turned a whistleblower. He claimed that the firm prioritises revenues over efforts to combat hate speech. The new charges come just days after another former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, accused the business of harming teenage users via Instagram.
The Washington Post had spoken to the latest whistleblower, who was a member of Facebook’s integrity team, about her allegations. According to reports, he had lodged a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The whistleblower claimed in the complaint that Facebook was afraid of then-President Donald Trump and hence refused to enforce safety rules. Out of fear of upsetting Trump and his political allies, Facebook consistently undercut efforts to prevent hate speech and misinformation, according to the report. Facebook was also concerned that tampering with the President might stifle its expansion.
One of the Facebook officials Tucker Bounds was also quoted in the affidavit. He had reportedly said, “It will be a flash in the pan. Some legislators will get pissy. And then in a few weeks, they will move on to something else. Meanwhile, we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine.”
The new whistleblower’s accusations are similar to those made by Frances Haugen, who claimed that Facebook prioritises profit over user safety. Facebook is planning to alter its name after receiving too many accusations and public relations difficulties as a result of these claims.
According to rumours, Facebook is currently considering changing its name. Branding experts, on the other hand, believe that changing identities will not keep Facebook out of public scrutiny on the issues revealed by the whistleblowers.
“Just because you rebranded, the media and regulators aren’t going to stop examining or enacting reforms,” head of brand and activation at Prophet told Reuters.
