Facebook profits top $9bn despite facing a slew of damaging claims from ex-employee whistleblower
Facebook profits top $9bn despite facing a slew of damaging claims from ex-employee whistleblower
The tech giant’s profits rose by $1.2billion from the same quarter in 2020It comes amid a storm for Facebook after damning claims by Frances HaugenShe claims Mark Zuckerberg places profits over the safety of its users
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Facebook has announced third quarter earnings of $9billion despite a series of blistering allegations from former employee turned whisleblower Frances Haugen.
The company’s net income for the three months ending on September 31 was up from $7.8billion for the same period in 2020.
A backlash against the technology firm has been intensifying since The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Facebook’s own internal research concluded its algorithms helped foster political dissent and contributed to mental health and emotional problems among teenagers, especially girls.
Ms Haugen claimed yesterday:
Facebook’s algorithm prioritises hate speech by showing people content based on how much engagement it has received;‘Anger and hate’ is the ‘best way to grow’ on the platform, and ‘bad actors’ are playing the algorithm by making their content more hateful;The world is ‘at the opening stages of a horrific novel’ due to extremism spreading via social media unless regulators act;Facebook is reluctant to sacrifice ‘even slithers of profit’ to prioritise online safety and ‘unquestionably’ makes online hate worse;Children’s relationship with platforms like Facebook is an ‘addicts’ narrative’, with youngsters saying social media sites make them unhappy but they are unable to stop using them;Facebook could tackle this problem but ‘they don’t because they know that young users are the future of the platform and the earlier they get them the sooner they get them hooked’; Platform had demonstrated ‘negligence’ and ‘ignorance’, but resisted the term ‘malevolence’ as this ‘implies intent’;‘Underinvestment’ in foreign languages means Facebook is less able to monitor content not in US English.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has made a number of damning claims about the tech giant
A woman using her phone under a logo of Facebook (Niall Carson/PA)
Haugen has made a number of damning claims about the tech giant, claiming on Monday that Instagram ‘may never be safe for 14-year-olds’ as she said the tech giant’s own research found children are turning to addicts and bullying was ‘following them into their bedrooms’.
The data engineer went public earlier this year with thousands of pages of internal research documents she secretly copied before quitting her job in the firm’s civic integrity unit.
She spoke before British MPs yesterday where she accused Facebook of being unwilling to sacrifice ‘even a slither of profit’ for safety improvements.
Her appearance coincided with her release of a fresh trove of documents which sensationally revealed CEO Mark Zuckerberg ‘personally intervened’ to allow US right wingers to ‘say what they wanted’ on the platform.
The memos – which have been dubbed ‘the Facebook Papers’ and comprise internal research she secretly copied while working at the firm’s ‘integrity unit’ – also revealed how bosses ignored internal complaints from staff for years to put profits first, ‘lied’ to investors and sought to shield Mr Zuckerberg from public scrutiny.
They also show how staff complained to Facebook executives about the company’s collective failure to anticipate the January 6 riot, how staff worried about the lack of policing on hate speech, and how the product was becoming less popular among young people.
The data scientist’s appearance coincided with her release of a fresh trove of documents which sensationally revealed CEO Mark Zuckerberg ‘personally intervened’ to allow US right wingers to ‘say what they wanted’ on the platform
Facebook says the documents have been taken out of context and are part of a ‘game of gotcha’ by the media.
As the documents emerged on Monday, Haugen told British lawmakers that she is ‘extremely concerned’ about how Facebook ranks content based on ‘engagement’, saying it fuels hate speech and extremism, particularly in non-English-speaking countries.
Some of the most damning comments were posted on January 6, the day of the Capitol riot, when staff told Zuckerberg and other executives on an internal messaging board that they blamed themselves for the violence.
‘One of the darkest days in the history of democracy and self-governance. History will not judge us kindly,’ said one worker while another said: ‘We’ve been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn’t be surprised it’s now out of control’.
The mountains of crises the company has been buried with over the last few years has prompted some to demand that it rebrand and change its name.
One of its most recent disasters was a tech-driven mistake that brought its entire network down for several hours around the world, costing businesses billions and putting it into stark perspective just how much the world relies on the company to communicate.
Facebook has repeatedly resisted calls to break its products up and says it should be able to police itself.
On Monday, tech experts said the revelations from the papers show Zuckerberg’s relentless ambition.
‘Ultimately, it rests with Mark and whatever his prerogative is – and it has always been to grow, to increase his power and his reach,’ Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor who’s followed Facebook closely for years, said.
