The Wall Street Journal is continuing its jaw-dropping expose of Facebook by revealing, via internal company documents, the social media giant's failure to police some of the most depraved content imaginable:
In January, a former cop turned Facebook Inc. investigator posted an all-staff memo on the company's internal message board. It began "Happy 2021 to everyone!!" and then proceeded to detail a new set of what he called "learnings." The biggest one: A Mexican drug cartel was using Facebook to recruit, train and pay hit men.
The behavior was shocking and in clear violation of Facebook's rules. But the company didn't stop the cartel from posting on Facebook or Instagram, the company's photo-sharing site.
Scores of internal Facebook documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show employees raising alarms about how its platforms are used in some developing countries, where its user base is already huge and expanding. They also show the company's response, which in many instances is inadequate or nothing at all.
Employees flagged that human traffickers in the Middle East used the site to lure women into abusive employment situations in which they were treated like slaves or forced to perform sex work. They warned that armed groups in Ethiopia used the site to incite violence against ethnic minorities. They sent alerts to their bosses on organ selling, pornography and government action against political dissent, according to the documents.
Yeah, so that's messed up beyond belief.
Other documents obtained by the Journal show that Facebook reportedly failed to police its VIP users for content violations and that the company publicly downplayed the alleged harm Instagram poses to teenage girls.
Absolutely insane.
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