Facebook Inc. executives believe a former employee whistle-blower will accuse the company of relaxing its election-related safeguards too soon following last November\u2019s vote, and will suggest on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that the company\u2019s products contributed to the Capitol riots in Washington in January.<\/p>\n
The whistle-blower, who already shared a trove of internal documents with the Wall Street Journal, will appear in an interview on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d Sunday evening. The person, whose identity is not yet known, is also set to testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Nick Clegg, Facebook\u2019s head of global policy, braced employees for the expected charges in a memo on Friday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know some of you \u2013 especially those of you in the U.S. \u2013 are going to get questions from friends and family about these things,\u201d Clegg wrote in the memo, seen by Bloomberg. \u201cSo I wanted to take a moment as we head into the weekend to provide what I hope is some useful context on our work in these crucial areas.\u201d The New York Times first reported on Clegg\u2019s memo.<\/p>\n
Clegg said those responsible for the Jan. 6 riots are \u201cthe perpetrators of the violence, and those in politics and elsewhere who actively encouraged them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMature democracies in which social media use is widespread hold elections all the time \u2013 for instance Germany\u2019s election last week \u2013 without the disfiguring presence of violence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The company has more than 40,000 people working on safety and security, and removed more than 5 billion fake accounts in 2020, he said. Between March 2020 and Election Day, the company removed over 265,000 pieces of Facebook and Instagram content in the U.S. which violated voter interference policies, he said.<\/p>\n
Facebook only rolled back on pre-election \u201cemergency measures \u2013 based on careful data-driven analysis \u2013 when we saw a return to more normal conditions,\u201d Clegg wrote. \u201cWe left some of them on for a longer period of time through February this year and others, like not recommending civic, political or new Groups, we have decided to retain permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clegg also said he expects the whistle-blower will also accuse the company of increasing polarization through the company\u2019s News Feed algorithm, an allegation he believes is unfair.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increase in political polarization in the U.S. pre-dates social media by several decades,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIf it were true that Facebook is the chief cause of polarization, we would expect to see it going up wherever Facebook is popular. It isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clegg\u2019s memo followed a series of stories in the Wall Street Journal last month that found Facebook struggles in a number of key content areas, including Covid-19 misinformation. One story also highlighted research from Facebook-owned Instagram that found the app makes mental health issues worse for some users, particularly teens.<\/p>\n
Those documents spurred a Senate subcommittee hearing on Thursday that focused on children\u2019s safety online. The whistle-blower will appear before the same committee next week as part of a hearing with a similar theme.<\/p>\n
Clegg ended his memo by telling employees that they should \u201chold our heads up high\u201d and be \u201cproud\u201d of the work that the company does. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.<\/p>\n
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