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Meta Faces New Whistleblower Complaints About Climate Change, COVID Misinformation

Meta Faces New Whistleblower Complaints About Climate Change, COVID Misinformation

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Angela Lang/CNET

Meta, the Facebook parent companyNew whistleblower complaints have been filed against, alleging that it misled investors about its efforts in combating climate change and COVID-19 misinformation. 

Whistleblower Aid, an organization representing non-profits, filed two new complaints to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Frances Haugen is a former Facebook product manager who became a whistleblower.. According to the complaint, Facebook is accused of making “material misrepresentations” to investors and omitting information about its efforts to stop misinformation on its platforms. The Washington PostRedacted copies of the documents were cited by, 

Whistleblower Aid confirmed the submissions to the SEC. It stated that investors have a legal claim to truthful answers from companies. 

“The documents shared by the SEC make it completely clear that Facebook was saying something in private regarding its approach to Climate Change and COVID-19 Misinformation,” stated Andrew Bakaj (senior counsel at Whistleblower Aid), in an emailed statement. 

The SEC declined comment. 

One of the new complaints claims that Climate ChangeAccording to the Post misinformation was “prominently readily available” on Facebook despite comments by executives about being committed in fighting the “global emergency.” Another complaint states that internal documents pointed out the proliferation of COVID-19 false information, including vaccine hesitancy. Facebook executives boasted about their efforts to remove this harmful content. 

Facebook has been criticised for years for not doing enough to combat hate speech. Stop spreading misinformation. Haugen accused Haugen of placing profits above user safety last year and leaked internal research information to Congress and SEC. The Wall Street Journal and then a consortium of US and international news outlets published Stories based on some of those documents.

Facebook claims that the leaked documents from its internal archives are being mischaracterized in order to paint a picture of a “false picture” of the company. The social network claims that more than 40,000 people work in safety and security and has invested over $13 million in these issues through its platforms.

A spokesperson for the company said Friday that they are committed to fighting misinformation. She highlighted the Climate Science Center as a resource to connect people to up-to-date information about climate and its work in collaboration with independent fact-checkers. 

“There is no one-size fits all solution to stop the spread of misinformation. But we are committed to building new tools, policies and strategies to combat it,” Drew Pusateri, Meta spokesperson, said in an email statement.

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