The Senate hearing today on Facebook's destructive "profit over people" philosophy featuring former Facebook executive Frances Haugen should expose more of chief executive Mark "Faceberg" Zuckerberg and his team's undermining of democratic institutions for profit through promoting hate speech and disinformation. Facebook is expected to fight back aggressively to defend those profits in the face of potential regulation. From the Washington Post:
"After four years of almost continuous scandal, Facebook is approaching its latest controversy over political polarization and the toxic effects of social media in a more aggressive and defiant way than it has previously, say current and former employees, including executives who helped shape the company’s earlier responses.
Gone is the familiar script in which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg issues a formal apology — sometimes in long blogs on his personal Facebook page or over live-streamed video for a Congressional hearing — then takes responsibility and promises change.
In its place, the company has deployed a slate of executives to mount a public defense while quibbling with the details of allegations from Frances Haugen, the former project manager who left Facebook with tens of thousands of documents. Those documents detail the company’s research into how it spreads hate, incites violence, and, through its Instagram subsidiary, contributes to teenage girls’ negative body images and suicidal thoughts." (our emphasis)
Part of Haugen's accusations are that Zuckerberg and his executive team mislead investors about the size of its audience, something she revealed in her explosive "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday. Haugen also is alleging Facebook and Instagram allowed the promotion of human trafficking. From CBS News:
"The filings, submitted by Haugen's lawyers, state, 'Our anonymous client is disclosing original evidence showing that Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has, for years past and ongoing, violated U.S. securities laws by making material misrepresentations and omissions in statements to investors and prospective investors, including, inter alia, through filings with the SEC, testimony to Congress, online statements and media stories.' [snip]
Among the allegations in the SEC filings are claims that Facebook and Instagram were aware in 2019 that the platforms were being used to 'promote human trafficking and domestic servitude.' The filings also allege Facebook 'failed to deploy internally-recommended or lasting counter-measures' to combat misinformation and violent extremism related to the 2020 election and January 6 insurrection." (our emphasis)
A trillion dollar company like Facebook can afford top lawyers and lobbyists, and they'll be deployed to fight these latest accusations. Then again, the days when Facebook and its executive team could skirt responsibility in pursuit of profits may be numbered after all.
BONUS: Here's Blaire Erskine's take on a Facebook response (with a brilliant swipe using "automatic friend" Tom [Anderson] of Myspace) --
Statement from Facebook pic.twitter.com/uCCZbPnyHW
— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) October 4, 2021
(photo: Zuckerberg, left, and Frances Haugen. AFP and AP)
