Mark Zuckerberg trashes ‘profit over safety’ allegation on Facebook as ‘deeply illogical’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on October 6 broke his silence, rubbishing a whistleblower’s allegation that the company puts profits over safety, as “just not true”.

Facebook, which has nearly 3 billion monthly users worldwide, is going through one of its worst reputation crises in a fortnight due to revelations by a whistleblower.

“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” Zuckerberg wrote in a note to Facebook employees that he then posted on his account.

“I don’t know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction,” he said. “FB makes money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content”.

The statement came hours after the whistleblower, who identified herself as Frances Haugen, testified before Congress.

Haugen, a former Facebook product engineer, leaked numerous internal documents in the past week, including to the Wall Street Journal.

She accused the company of “(choosing) profit over the safety” of its users, in an interview broadcast by CBS.

Haugen told the US lawmakers that the social media giant knew its apps were harming the mental health of some young users. She said that new regulations were needed to force Facebook to improve its own platforms.

Haugen said Facebook knows that vulnerable people are harmed by its systems, from kids who are susceptible to feel bad about their bodies because of Instagram to adults who are more exposed to misinformation after being widowed, divorced or experiencing other forms of isolation such as moving to a new city.

The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, she said.