The news comes almost two weeks after two insiders revealed Facebook has allegedly been testing an algorithm on its users that demoted, buried, and hid comments, describing “potentially or actually true” events or facts.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has criticised company employees who expose the social media giant’s “alleged” censorship programme. Ironically, he made the remarks during a video chat, later leaked by a Facebook insider. The video was subsequently posted online by a non-profit investigative media outlet, Project Veritas.
During the conversation with high-ranking Facebook officials, Zuckerberg stressed that the tech giant should be good “at rooting out people, who are leaking stuff”, lamenting that the company had suffered from numerous whistleblowers last year.
“I’ve been clear that we have a number of efforts to find people and we terminate people and pursue the recourse that we have when we identify them”, Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg’s view on whistleblowers was echoed by Heidi Swartz, Deputy General Counsel of Employment Law & Investigations, who emphasised that all leaks – good or bad – are damaging to the company.
“They’re not the right way to bring about change, especially in a company like this where people are free to share their opinion. You may think you’re leaking because you want to hold leadership accountable or that you’re on the right side of history, but that is very subjective and you may not have all the information to make that call”, Swartz said.
