Facebook has been at the end of a lot of criticism lately and it appears the social networking giant's nightmares are far from over. A series of leaked internal documents exposing Facebook, which shows the company allegedly prioritising profits over safety of its users, dubbed as "Facebook Files" by WSJ, has brought a lot of bad press. Now, Facebook is hitting back at news organisations for "misrepresenting" its actions and motives.
In a carefully worded response ahead of what appears be a series of news articles based on leaked Facebook documents, Facebook's communications VP John Pinette hit out at media publications, calling them to "move beyond an orchestrated 'gotcha' campaign."
"We expect the press to hold us accountable, given our scale and role in the world. But when reporting misrepresents our actions and motivations, we believe we should correct the record. Over the last 6 weeks, including over the weekend, we've seen how documents can be mischaracterized. Obviously, not every employee at Facebook is an executive; not every opinion is the company's position," Pinette wrote.
Taking a defensive stand, Facebook said that "a curated selection out of millions of documents" can in no way be used to draw "fair conclusions." Facebook is reportedly sharing work in progress and debate options internally.
"Not every suggestion stands up to the scrutiny we must apply to decisions affecting so many people," Pinette wrote.
"Right now 30+ journalists are finishing up a coordinated series of articles based on thousands of pages of leaked documents. We hear that to get the docs, outlets had to agree to the conditions and a schedule laid down by the PR team that worked on earlier leaked docs," Pinette further alleged.
The Facebook Files
In riveting testimony, a former Facebook employee tore into the now embattled social networking giant, blaming its "metrics" driven culture for hurting children, fueling hate and walking away from ethical considerations because profits come first.
Frances Haugen, who testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, accused Facebook of intentionally walking away from fixing its broken algorithms that fuel some of the worst effects of addictive social media apps. Haugen claims Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg knew about internal research showing potential negative impacts of Instagram.
Taking note of the serious allegations against Facebook, Zuckerberg, in a strongly-worded letter, refuted to all claims made by Haugen earlier this month. He rubbished the "profit over safety" remark is "just not true" and "deeply illogical."
