Leaks report neglect on Facebook before the assault on the US Congress

New leaks by several former employees of Facebook to The Washington Post they describe how the company fell into neglect after the presidential elections in USA last November and deactivated precautionary measures before the assault on the Capitol January 6.

According to the article published this Friday, many of the workers who during the months before the elections had been part of the prevention team against false news and hate content, took leave of absence or changed positions after the elections.

In addition, Facebook backed down with dozens of measures it had activated to avoid chaos on election day such as the suppression of certain groups, and the civic integrity team was practically disbanded for fear of the criticism that its members devoted with increasing numbers. frequency to the company itself.

The article was prepared based on interviews with the Post with several anonymous former employees and with internal Facebook documentation delivered to the US government by the only whistleblower who has so far revealed her identity, Frances Haugen, who testified before the United States Congress. early October.

According to journalistic information, on January 6, when the assault on the Capitol by thousands of supporters, some of them armed, of former President Donald Trump, Facebook employees expressed “anger and regret” for not having given greater importance to the “warning signs.”

That day, complaints on Facebook by users who had found fake news soared to 40,000 per hour, and on Instagram (owned by the company), the account most reported for inciting violence was that of then-still President Trump.

Facebook has been in the spotlight around the world for weeks after Haugen declared before a subcommittee of the United States Senate that the firm puts its benefits before the safety of users and hides that its platforms are harmful to minors They foster social division and weaken democracy.

Haugen, who previously leaked internal company documents to the Wall Street Journal, made a ruthless portrait of the company before the Senate, because during the time he was working on it he realized a “devastating truth”: Facebook hides information from the public and to the governments.

For his part, the CEO and co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, denied that his company puts benefits before the safety and well-being of users, saying that “many of the accusations do not make sense” and that he does not recognize “the false image of the company that is being painted ”.