Facebook employees told to preserve documents amid investigation

A trove of evidence and internal records provided by whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, as well as a series of news reports based on her information, also sparked an uproar between Democratic and Republican lawmakers to curb power. has accelerated. technology platform.

In a 10-Q form submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, Facebook acknowledged that “from time to time, we are also subject to other government inquiries and investigations relating to our business activities and disclosure practices.

“For example, as of early September 2021, we were responding to government investigations and requests regarding allegations from a former employee and the release of internal company documents relating to, among other things, our algorithms, advertising and user metrics, and content enforcement practices. as misinformation and other undesirable activity on our Platform and in the well-being of the user,” the company said in a filing to the SEC.

“Facebook has sent a legal withholding notice to all employees,” company spokesman Joel Osborne said in a statement to Bloomberg on Wednesday. “Document protection requests are part of the process of responding to legal inquiries.”

Facebook’s request to employees to preserve the documents was reported by the New York Times in an internal memo on Tuesday.

Haugen, who has testified before Congress and appeared at a parliamentary hearing in London this week, opened a window into the practices of a company that has become ubiquitous in the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world since its founding in 2004. Is. . She said that the company has put profits on the safety and security of the user.

For example, its disclosures reveal that some Facebook employees expressed alarm during the January 6 US Capitol riots that the company had not done enough to take action against groups spreading lies that then-President Donald Trump said. Won the 2020 election.

On Monday, Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, presented a brighter picture of the social network, telling investors about new efforts to attract younger users and create immersive digital experiences.

He said the press coverage about Haugen’s revelations was part of a “coordinated effort” to paint a negative and unbalanced picture of Facebook’s efforts to moderate its platform, which he called better than rivals.

“Any honest account should be clear that these issues are not primarily about social media,” he said. “That means no matter what Facebook does, we’re never going to solve them on our own.”