New whistleblower complaints have been filed against Facebook’s parent company Meta, accusing the company of misleading investors about its efforts to combat climate change and COVID-19 misinformation.
Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit group representing former Facebook Product Manager turned whistleblower Frances Haugen, filed the most recent complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this month.
According to The Washington Post, the complaints allege that Facebook made “material misrepresentations” by omitting information in investor statements about its efforts to combat misinformation on its platforms. The documents were redacted, according to the Post.
Whistleblower Aid confirmed that the complaints were filed with the SEC, claiming that investors had a legal right to know the truth from the company. The SEC, on the other hand, declined to comment.
Andrew Bakaj, senior counsel at Whistleblower Aid, commented, “The documents shared with the SEC make it clear that Facebook was saying one thing in private and another in public regarding its approach to climate change and COVID-19 misinformation.”
According to one of the complaints, climate change misinformation has been “prominently available” on Facebook, despite numerous claims from executives that they are committed to combating the “global crisis.”
Another complaint claims that internal documents revealed information about the spread of COIVD-19 misinformation, such as vaccine hesitancy.
Facebook stated that the leaked internal documents were “mischaracterized” and painted a “false picture” of the company. Despite the fact that the company has over 40,000 employees working on safety and security and has invested more than $13 billion in such issues, it continues to face such criticism.
Drew Pusateri, a Meta spokesperson, stated in an emailed statement, “There are no one-size-fits-all solutions to stopping the spread of misinformation, but we’re committed to building new tools and policies to combat it.”
The spokesperson went on to say that the company is committed to combating misinformation and praised the Climate Science Center’s efforts.
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