Facebook Plays Politics In Effort To Smear Whistleblower: WSJ

MENLO PARK, CA — When former Facebook employee Frances Haugen leaked documentary evidence, including internal documents, suggesting the social media behemoth knowingly put profits ahead of public safety, the social media behemoth played politics in an orchestrated effort to discredit the whistleblower.

That’s according to new reporting from The Wall Street Journal that raises questions about whether the company’s stated mission of seeking to “bring the world close together” counts for much more than a platitude.

Haugen in congressional testimony earlier this year alleged that Facebook tweaked its algorithm to promote outrage, and in doing so knowingly put profits ahead of the mental health and physical safety of its users

"The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat," Haugen said in her testimony.

“In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people."

The WSJ report describes an army of lobbyists with separate talking points that aimed to sow division between the two political parties as bipartisan support for regulating the Menlo Park company was growing.

Haugen in congressional testimony earlier this year alleged that Facebook tweaked its algorithm to promote outrage, and in doing so knowingly put profits ahead of the mental health and physical safety of its users.

"The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat,” Haugen said in her testimony.

“In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people."

In conversations with Republican lawmakers, lobbyists tried to paint Haugen as a progressive partisan with political motives.

In separate conversations with Democrats, the lobbyists stressed Facebook’s commitment to banning supporters of Kyle Rittenhouse, although that decision was later reversed, Business Insider reports.

Read more in The Wall Street Journal