Publish the so-called Facebook Sheets that delves into the way a company puts its profits before security and misinformation doubles down on pressure on its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg On the same day the social network reported multi-million dollar results for the July-September quarter.
(See: The Digital Economy: What Will Change After the Facebook Crisis?).
These documents, published on Monday by a coalition of 17 media outlets including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, They add new details to leaks of a former employee of the company, Francis Hogan, which was published weeks ago The Wall Street Journal.
Policy of putting economic outcomes before network security, no oversight against misinformation or no internal precautions before Assault on the Capitol Are some of the issues that emerge in new publications on the social network.
The company defended itself against the publication of “newspapers” by insisting on a statement:The premise of all these stories is wrong“Because though
Facebook is a company that tries to make money, and the idea that it does so at the expense of the safety or well-being of people”It’s a wrong interpretation“.
(See: With Everything and Crunch, Facebook Reports $9,000 Million in Profit.)
Among the new discoveries, the social network company stands out Hardly allocates resources to combat false information outside the United States Its effectiveness is almost non-existent in developing countries like India, at present the country with the largest number of Facebook users in the world.
According to a report prepared by the company itself, in 2020, 84% of actions against false information on Facebook and Instagram (which are owned by it) occurred in the United States, despite the fact that the vast majority of its users are from outside that country.
(See: Facebook will change its name and launch its own “metaverse.”)
The documents also describe how the company is doing Fell into a state of laziness after the US presidential election in November 2020 and disrupting precautionary measures prior to the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to the information published, many workers who, during the months leading up to the US elections, were part of the prevention team against fake news and hateful content, took leave or changed their positions after the election, were among the workers who were, during the months leading up to the US elections.
Also, Facebook And he retracted dozens of actions he had activated to avoid chaos On election day, as certain groups were suppressed, the Civic Integrity Team was practically dissolved out of fear of criticism that its members were increasingly devoted to the company itself.
(See: What is known about TRUTH Social, Donald Trump’s social network).
The information in the ‘papers’ also provides more detail about the company’s lack of resources to crack down on hate speech, and notes that two years ago the company reduced the time human moderators spent reviewing user complaints for this reason.
In internal communications, Facebook employees expressed doubts about the possibility of the social network coming to power in the future. Effectively identifying the majority of hateful content on the platform.
Thus, according to the estimates of one employee, automated control systems eliminate content that generates only 2% of hate speech views on the platform, while another group estimates that Employees in March of this year raised this percentage to between 3% and 5%.
(See: Facebook will pay $14 million after job discrimination lawsuit.)
Despite the intense scrutiny that Facebook receives from the press and politicians, Facebook continues to gain users and increase its profits, in the first nine months of the year it was up 62% compared to the same period in 2020.
EFE
