Sunday Reading: What’s Going on With Facebook?
This overview of the recent Facebook whistleblower news and National Whistleblower Center’s (NWC) work on the issue was sent as part of NWC’s Sunday Reading series that aims to educate supporters about specific whistleblower legislative or policy initiatives. For more information like this, please join our mailing list.
As you may have heard, Facebook has been the subject of intense public scrutiny in recent weeks regarding its failure to address dangerous and criminal behavior on its platforms. The increased scrutiny comes after several whistleblowers courageously came forward providing new information into how the company prioritizes profit over combating misinformation and illegal activity that have been able to proliferate throughout Facebook.
In October, NWC filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Facebook, and the filing included an affidavit from a confidential and anonymous whistleblower who previously worked on Facebook’s Product Integrity Team. The whistleblower’s affidavit, as detailed in an exclusive report by the Washington Post, alleges that Facebook officials knew that its platforms were being used to spread misinformation and hate speech but deliberately undermined efforts to reign in harmful content in order to maximize user growth and ad revenue.
The whistleblower repeatedly attempted to alert higher ups at the company about these issues but was repeatedly rebuffed, with one Facebook communications official, Tucker Bounds, telling the whistleblower, “It will be a flash in the pan. Some legislators will get pissy. And then in a few weeks they will move onto something else. Meanwhile we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine.”
The whistleblower’s complaint specifically focuses on widespread illegal activity occurring in Facebook Groups, which are used by organized criminal networks and terror groups to sell drugs and looted antiquities, recruit new members, and engage in human and wildlife trafficking. The whistleblower additionally accuses the company of failing to crack down on hate speech spread by military officials in Myanmar that targeted the minority Rohingya ethnic group. These officials facilitated the killing of tens of thousands of Rohingya — with the use of social media playing a key role in their effort.
The latest whistleblower complaint demonstrates an important new strategy NWC is using to hold Facebook accountable. Thus far, companies like Facebook have generally been able to avoid liability by invoking Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives broad immunity to Internet companies for content that users post on their platforms. Section 230, however, does not shield Facebook from violations of federal securities laws.
These securities laws require publicly traded companies to disclose to investors and the SEC certain material risks that could affect their profitability, and the SEC has significant authority to prosecute entities who mislead investors and regulators. In statements to lawmakers, regulators, and investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook officials repeatedly claimed high rates of success in policing harmful content on the company’s platforms.
However, as NWC’s whistleblower complaint makes clear, internal communications within Facebook paint a far different story: company officials knew of widespread problems yet refused to make any meaningful effort to address them. Their deliberate attempt to avoid disclosing the risks associated with these problems constitutes a clear violation of federal securities law.
Whistleblower experts, including NWC’s founding director Stephen Kohn, believe that the case against Facebook is a strong one. “Facebook is guilty as charged,” Kohn said. Gretchen Peters, who heads the Alliance to Counter Crime Online and who has partnered with the NWC in filing the SEC complaint said, “Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives repeatedly claimed high rates of success in restricting illicit and toxic content — to lawmakers, regulators and investors — when in fact they knew the firm could not remove this content and remain profitable.”
The whistleblower’s SEC complaint also demonstrates the vital role that whistleblowers play in holding powerful tech companies to account. The latest complaint is one of several that we have filed against Facebook since 2017 on behalf of various confidential whistleblowers. These whistleblowers take tremendous personal risks in order to expose illicit activity and to protect the public from corporate wrongdoing.
NWC commends these brave whistleblowers as well as our supporters, whose contributions make our work possible. We look forward to the continued fight to hold Facebook accountable and to protect the courageous whistleblowers who speak out against it.
