The pressure on Facebook has increased considerably from the media in recent weeks.
American news sites got access to The Facebook Files: thousands of internal company documents, which show weaknesses in the policy.
In this review article we collect the most important findings and developments.
September 13, 2021
:
The Wall Street Journal
has access to Facebook documents that never came out.
The first post of a series, later called The Facebook Files, is about people who can afford more freedoms on Facebook than others.
Some rules do not apply to them.
September 14, 2021
: Research by Facebook itself found that Instagram is bad for the self-esteem of teenagers.
However, the company never intervened.
September 15, 2021
: Facebook modified its News Feed algorithm in 2018 to encourage "meaningful social interactions" between friends and family.
In practice, it caused more division among users.
September 21, 2021
: Facebook's Supervisory Board announces an investigation into situations where famous people were exempted from Facebook's rules.
October 3, 2021
: Frances Haugen steps forward as the person who leaked the Facebook documents.
She is a former employee of the company and says she acted as a whistleblower to help Facebook.
Frances Haugen at the United States Congress.
Frances Haugen at the United States Congress.
Photo: EPA
October 4, 2021
: Haugen says Facebook had some security measures disabled during last year's presidential election.
That would have contributed to the storming of the Capitol in Washington.
October 5, 2021
: The whistleblower is questioned by the US Congress.
There she says, among other things, that Facebook knows that it harms vulnerable people and that the platform exploits negative emotions to keep people.
October 6, 2021
: Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg responds, saying many of Haugen's claims "make no sense".
He says the media paints a false image of the work at Facebook.
October 11, 2021
: Facebook CEO Nick Clegg announces to
CNN
measures to improve the well-being of teens on Facebook platforms.
The plans remain vague, although Instagram regularly wants to remind teenagers to "take a rest".
October 14, 2021
: Facebook shields a number of online discussion platforms within the company from groups of employees.
It should ensure that no more information is leaked.
October 18, 2021
: The algorithm Facebook uses to counter hate speech only detects 3 to 5 percent of those messages,
The Wall Street Journal
reports
.
October 21, 2021
: Facebook's own supervisory board holds the company accountable.
The council demands that Facebook communicates more transparently about the platform from now on.
October 24, 2021
:
The New York Times
reports that Facebook knew that the social network had promoted the spread of misinformation and violence in India.
The company would not have the appropriate resources to act against the spread of harmful material.
Facebook doesn't know what to do with its like button.
Facebook doesn't know what to do with its like button.
Photo: Reuters
October 25, 2021
: Seventeen US media outlets access The Facebook Files and publish their initial findings.
For example,
Reuters
writes
that Facebook employees have been warning for years that the company does not succeed in checking for hate messages.
October 25, 2021
: Facebook has known for years that the platform is used by human traffickers, but according to
CNN is
unable to intervene adequately.
October 25, 2021
: The like and share buttons on Facebook are used by users to indicate their interests, but also ensure that problematic messages are spread faster.
Facebook doesn't know what to do with this.
October 25, 2021
: Facebook trailed behind during and prior to the storming of the US Capitol.
There was no script for false claims being circulated about the election results in the US.
October 25, 2021
: Facebook's inability to engage people under the age of 30 is starting to become a major problem for the company.
October 26, 2021
: Zuckerberg calls all posts "a coordinated move selectively picking out leaked documents to create a misrepresentation of Facebook."
October 26, 2021
: Facebook algorithms gave angry faces and hearts more weight than the like button.
Because of that formula, messages about which people expressed anger or love, often on polarizing topics, were more widely distributed.
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