After Whistle-Blower Goes Public, Facebook Tries Calming Employees
The New York Times
Employees are divided over Frances Haugen, a former product manager who testified that the company was putting profit before safety.
SAN FRANCISCO — At a question-and-answer session with employees last week, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, was asked about Frances Haugen, a former product manager turned whistle-blower who had testified to Congress about the company’s harms.
Mr. Zuckerberg spent about 20 minutes discussing the whistle-blower, her testimony and recent media coverage, all without mentioning Ms. Haugen by name, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times. Some of her assertions on how the platform polarizes people, he told employees, were “pretty easy to debunk.”
The chief executive’s comments were part of an internal effort that Facebook has begun to manage the fallout from Ms. Haugen’s revelations. Even as Facebook executives have publicly questioned Ms. Haugen’s credibility and called her accusations untrue, they have been equally active with their internal positioning as they try to hang on to the good will of more than 63,000 workers and assuage their concerns about the whistle-blower.
Lawmakers raising national security concerns and seeking to disconnect a major Chinese firm from U.S. pharmaceutical interests have rattled the biotech industry. The firm is deeply involved in development and manufacturing of crucial therapies for cancer, cystic fibrosis, H.I.V. and other illnesses.