A former Fb employee reportedly advised US authorities Friday the platform has put income earlier than stopping problematic content material, weeks after one other whistleblower helped stoke the agency’s newest disaster with comparable claims. The unnamed new whistleblower filed a criticism with US monetary regulator Securities and Trade Fee that would add to the corporate’s misery, stated a Washington Publish report.
Fb has confronted a storm of criticism over the previous month after former worker Frances Haugen leaked inside research exhibiting the corporate knew of potential hurt stoked by its websites, prompting US lawmakers’ to resume a push for regulation.
Within the SEC criticism, the brand new whistleblower recounts alleged statements from 2017, when the corporate was deciding easy methods to deal with the controversy associated to Russia’s interference within the 2016 US presidential election.
“It will likely be a flash within the pan. Some legislators will get pissy. After which in just a few weeks they’ll transfer onto one thing else. In the meantime we’re printing cash within the basement, and we’re high quality,” Tucker Bounds, a member of Fb’s communications workforce, was quoted within the criticism as saying, The Washington Publish reported.
The second whistleblower signed the criticism on October 13, every week after Haugen’s scathing testimony earlier than a Senate panel, in response to the report.
Haugen advised lawmakers that Fb put income over security, which led her to leak reams of inside firm research that underpinned a damning Wall Avenue Journal collection.
The Washington Publish reported the brand new whistleblowers SEC submitting claims the social media big’s managers routinely undermined efforts to fight misinformation and different problematic content material for concern of angering then US president Donald Trump or for turning off the customers who’re key to income.
Erin McPike, a Fb spokeswoman, stated the article was “beneath the Washington Publish, which over the last 5 years would solely report tales after deep reporting with corroborating sources.”
Fb has confronted earlier firestorms of controversy, however that has not translated into substantial new US laws to manage social media.
