Facebook whistleblower accuses company of failing to address climate change misinformation

Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for TIME

The Washington Post reported that the nonprofit that represents Facebook's whistle blower, Frances Haugen, filed two new SEC complaints about the social networking site. Facebook is accused of misleading investors about its efforts to tackle misinformation about climate change.

The Washington Post obtained the first complaint that alleges the presence of climate change misinformation on Facebook. Employees have their own experiences with climate-related falsehoods on the platform in internal documents. One employee reported seeing a video that promoted climate change as the second result after searching for it in the Watch tab. The video has over 6 million views. The company was urged to remove climate misinformation by another employee.

The Climate Science Information Center is a hub for credible climate change information on Facebook. According to The Post, the complaint references internal records that claim user awareness of the hub was very low. Meta tried to bolster its Climate Science Information Center with more quizzes, videos, and facts last year. Climate change denial has become even more widespread on the platform, according to a study conducted months later.

The second complaint says that Facebook's promise to combat misinformation didn't match its actions. According to The Post, the complaint cites an internal document showing a 20 percent increase in misinformation in April 2020, as well as a May 2020 record in which employees point out the presence of hundreds of anti-quarantine groups. In July of last year, President Joe Biden accused Facebook and other social platforms of killing people with misinformation.

The Wall Street Journal obtained a trove of internal Facebook documents, dubbed the Facebook Papers. She testified before Congress to discuss possible changes to Section 230, the law that shields websites from legal accountability for illegal content that users may post.

The SEC and Meta didn't respond to the request for comment.