New Facebook whistleblower alleges company wanted to avoid 'a fight' with Steve Bannon


Don't look now, but there's another Facebook whistleblower.
This time, a former member of Facebook's Integrity team in an affidavit alleged the company "prizes growth and profits over combatting hate speech, misinformation and other threats to the public," The Washington Post reported. The news comes after former Facebook employee Frances Haugen made similar allegations before Congress.
In the affidavit, the new whistleblower reportedly describes an instance in which Facebook communications official Tucker Bounds allegedly said, as the company was facing scrutiny over Russian interference in the 2016 election, that legislators would "get pissy" but "in a few weeks they will move onto something else. Meanwhile we are printing money in the basement, and we are fine." The affidavit reportedly also accuses Facebook of undermining efforts to crack down on misinformation and hate speech due to concerns about angering former President Donald Trump and his allies or hurting user growth. And in an interview with the Post, the whistleblower alleged that when questioned about a policy exempting publishers including Breitbart News from its standard rules, Facebook's vice president of global public policy Joel Kaplan said, "Do you want to start a fight with Steve Bannon?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The whistleblower additionally alleges Facebook didn't take adequate action when military officials in Myanmar were using the platform to spread hate speech amid the mass killings of the Rohingya people, saying, "I, working for Facebook, had been a party to genocide." Another allegation was that there is "illegal and truly horrific activity occurring inside Facebook Groups," but Facebook is "not actually interested in fixing this problem," CNN reports.
A Facebook spokesperson criticized the Post for its reporting, saying it "sets a dangerous precedent to hang an entire story on a single source making a wide range of claims without any apparent corroboration." Meanwhile, Kaplan said he has "consistently pushed for fair treatment of all publishers, irrespective of ideological viewpoint." Read more at The Washington Post.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
Interest rate cut: the winners and losers
The Explainer The Bank of England's rate cut is not good news for everyone
-
Quiz of The Week: 3 – 9 May
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will robots benefit from a sense of touch?
Podcast Plus, has Donald Trump given centrism a new lease of life? And was it wrong to release the deadly film Rust?
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pauses
Speed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocks
Speed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine