Whistleblower aid, the nonprofit that represents Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, is the subject of two new security and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints. The complaints accuse Facebook of misleading investors about its efforts to tackle misinformation about climate change and covid-19.
The Washington Post alleges the presence of readily available climate change misinformation on Facebook. One employee reports searching for’climate change’ in the watch tab and then seeing a video that promotes’climate misinfo’. The video in question has reportedly garnered 6.6 million views.
The complaint also mentions Facebook’s climate science information center. Last year, meta attempted to bolster its climate science info center with additional quizzes, videos, and facts a study found that climate change denial has become more widespread on the platform.
The complaint alleges Facebook’s promise to combat covid-19 misinformation did n’t align with its actions. Last July, President Joe Biden accused Facebook of’killing people’ with misinformation about covid-19 and its vaccines.
‘there are no one-size-fits-all solutions to stopping the spread of misinformation,’ a spokesperson said.’we’re committed to building new tools and policies to combat it,’ he said.
Haugen leaked a trove of internal Facebook documents – dubbed the Facebook papers – to the Wall Street Journal last year. She has since 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 did n’t immediately respond to the verge’s request for comment. The SEC was n’t immediately responded.