KATE THOMPSON DAVY: Internal memo leak puts under-fire Facebook on blast, again
Articles show many bad choices, such as burying research showing the psychological harm of Instagram
There has been a relentless string of bad press for Facebook in recent years, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to now. This month’s serving of Facebook scandal comes in the form of a series of articles from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on leaked internal documents showing a cornucopia of bad choices, such as excluding celebrities and influential users from content moderation rules and burying research showing the psychological harm Instagram can have on young users. Facebook denied the latter claim in a response published on its corporate site.
Among the offences in the memos we see Facebook failing to deal with instances of human trafficking, revenge porn and discrimination on its platforms, over and above the well-documented cases where the platform was used to influence political agendas and even sway elections. I highly recommend the entire series from the WSJ, as well as additional reporting on the “Facebook Files” from the BBC...
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