Looks like nobody cared about The Facebook Papers.
Facebook’s rank-and-file employees warned their leaders about the company’s effects on society and politics in the U.S. — and its inability to effectively moderate content in other countries magnified those dangers. Those are two of the main takeaways from thousands of internal Facebook documents that NPR and other news outlets have reviewed.
The documents, known collectively as the Facebook Papers, were shared in redacted form with Congress after whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, disclosed them to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Haugen alleges that the trove of statements and data prove that Facebook’s leaders have repeatedly and knowingly put the company’s image and profitability ahead of the public good — even at the risk of violence and other harm.
Some of the internal documents initially emerged last month in The Wall Street Journal. They include internal research findings and internal audits that the company performed on its own practices.
Here are four main takeaways from news outlets’ review of the documents:
When then-President Donald Trump’s supporters mounted an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Facebook rushed to take technical measures that aimed to clamp down on misinformation and content that might incite further violence. The next day, it banned Trump from the platform — at first temporarily, but then permanently.
