Another former Facebook employee has filed a Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower complaint. According to the latest complaint, first reported by The Washington Post, Facebook misled its investors about “dangerous and criminal behaviour on its platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.”
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In the complaint, the former employee described a conversation with one of Facebook’s top communication executives, who said the scandal would be a “flash in the pan” and that “we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine” following revelations about Russia’s use of the platform to meddle in the 2016 election.
The latest whistleblower, like Frances Haugen, is a former member of Facebook’s integrity team, which was tasked with combating misinformation, voting interference, and other major issues confronting the company.
Similarly to Haugen, the former Facebook employee claimed that the company “routinely undermined efforts to combat misinformation, hate speech, and other problematic content out of fear of upsetting then-President Trump and his political allies, or out of concern about potentially dampening user growth.”
The SEC filing also discusses illegal activity in private Facebook Groups, as well as Facebook’s policy of allowing politicians and other high-profile users to circumvent its rules. According to The Washington Post, it names Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg as being aware of the issues but failing to report them to investors.
While many of the details sound familiar from previous complaints from former company insiders, the addition of another complaint adds to the pressure on Facebook, which has spent much of the last month attempting to discredit Haugen and downplay the significance of its own research.
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Meanwhile, lawmakers have demanded that Zuckerberg respond to congressional questions, and Haugen is expected to brief European officials.
A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Next week, Zuckerberg is expected to announce plans to rebrand the company with a new name.
