There’s a lot going of trouble in Zuck-town.
As per the reports, a new Facebook whistleblower has emerged, and he’s been dishing to US regulators that in 2017, a Facebook official dismissed concerns about hate speech as a “flash in the pan,” adding that while “some legislators will get pissed,” Facebook is “printing money in the basement.”
According to the Washington Post, on Friday, the new whistleblower also told that the Securities and Exchange Commission under penalty of perjury that the company has consistently dismissed concerns about hate speech and misinformation in the pursuit of growth.
The new whistleblower, just like Frances Haugen, is a former Facebook employee who’s now turned into whistleblower who testified in Congress prior this month, is reportedly an ex-member of the company’s “Integrity team.”
The new whistleblower’s name has not been revealed. As per the reports, he told the Securities and Exchange Commission that during the Trump administration, Facebook executives undermined efforts to combat misinformation and hate speech because they believed such efforts would slow the company’s growth — and because they were afraid of the president and his political allies.
According to the report, Facebook executives were also having blasé attitude about legislators’ efforts to investigate the company.
“It will be a flash in the pan. Some legislators will get pissy,” Facebook communications official Tucker Bounds said in 2017, according to the reported whistleblower. “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 alleged quote from Bounds sounds accurate, according to a source who worked at Facebook at the same time as the whistleblower.
“That’s how Tucker talks,” the former employee said. “The Tucker quote, as much as I disagree with it, really does reflect the attitude during 2017.”
Facebook spokeswoman Erin McPike said in a statement that the story was “beneath the Washington Post, which during the last five years would only report stories after deep reporting with corroborating sources.”
