New whistleblower raises more Facebook allegations

A new whistleblower affidavit submitted by a former Facebook employee alleges that the company prizes growth and profits over combating hate speech, misinformation and other threats to the public, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Washington Post.

The allegations, shared with the Post on the condition of anonymity, echo many of those made by Frances Haugen, another former Facebook employee whose scathing testimony before the US Congress this month intensified bipartisan calls for federal action against the company.

Haugen, like the new whistleblower, also made allegations to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees publicly traded companies.

The new whistleblower is a former member of Facebook’s integrity team.

Perhaps the most vivid moment in the affidavit comes in a direct quote the whistleblower reported hearing from a top Facebook communications official during the controversy following Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook communications official Tucker Bounds allegedly said, according to the affidavit: ‘‘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 quote from Bounds, according to the affidavit from the whistleblower, exemplified a widespread attitude within the company regarding problematic content on the platform, reportedly

including illegal activity conducted in Facebook Groups.

The SEC affidavit goes on to allege that Facebook officials routinely undermined efforts to fight misinformation, hate speech and other problematic content out of fear of angering then-US President Donald Trump and his political allies, or out of concern about potentially dampening the user growth key to Facebook’s multibillion-dollar profits.

Yesterday’s filing is the latest in a series since 2017 spearheaded by former journalist Gretchen Peters and a group she leads, the Alliance to Counter Crime Online.

Taken together, the filings argue that Facebook has failed to adequately address dangerous and criminal behaviour on its platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. This includes permitting terrorist content, drug sales, hate speech and misinformation to flourish, while also failing to adequately warn investors about the potential risks when such problems surface.

Yesterday’s filing, which was accompanied by a second affidavit from Peters based on interviews she conducted with other former company employees, argues that top leadership at Facebook, including chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, are aware of the severity of problems within the company but have failed to report them in SEC filings available to investors.

The whistleblower told the Post of an occasion in which Facebook’s public policy team defended a ‘‘white list’’ that exempted Trump-aligned Breitbart News, run then by former White House strategist Stephen Bannon, and other select publishers from Facebook’s ordinary rules against spreading false news reports.