The dark sides of Facebook

This should not suit Mark Zuckerberg at all: In the "Facebook Files," the Wall Street Journal reveals explosive documents from the company. How social is the network really?

Six journalists have spent the past few weeks analyzing the leaked documents: including internal memos, PowerPoint presentations and discussions from Facebook's internal company chat channel. "We show that these are not isolated cases of failure that caught the company by surprise. Rather, there is widespread acceptance here," says Jeff Horwitz. He is the lead author of the "Facebook Files" series of articles in the "Wall Street Journal" and Silicon Valley reporter for the business newspaper. "Facebook doesn't care much. It only takes action when a case generates public attention."

Exemption rules for millions of celebrities

In the latest article, the Wall Street Journal quotes from an internal protocol. According to this, a Facebook manager is said to have said that a machine had been created that could no longer be controlled. This image runs like a thread through the series of articles. One example: the Brazilian soccer star Neymar. He posted a video on Instagram in 2019 after rape allegations against him, showing the name and nude photos of the woman who had accused him. According to Facebook's regulations, a clear case of revenge pornography, punishable by deletion of the account.

Not, however, in Neymar's case. "Neymar was very protected on Instagram," says journalist Horwitz. "He is one of the top 20 influencers on the service. The employees who wanted to delete his entry lacked the authority to do so." The whole thing happened over a weekend, he says. It took more than 24 hours for the posting to finally be deleted, he said. "More than 56 million people have seen the nude photos of the woman."

A total of 5.8 million celebrities worldwide, according to the Journal, are on the exception list, called "Cross Check." Dictators, actors, politicians. "Diverse areas from the company added celebrities to this list," Horwitz reports. "Dozens of teams, at least 40, had the opportunity to do this. Everyone did it in their own way. The whole thing was not controlled by anyone inside Facebook."

Professional killer search and slave trade?

In another article, the newspaper describes how the social network allegedly stood idly by as a Mexican drug cartel used Facebook to recruit hit men. The same article discusses a 2019 report by the BBC, which concluded that human traffickers in the Middle East disguised as job recruitment agencies were placing ads via Facebook to enslave people. In response to the BBC report, the Apple company, for its part, had threatened Facebook to delete the Instagram and Facebook app from the app store.

"That would have resulted in iPhone owners not being able to install Instagram or Facebook on their phones," Horwitz said. That threat eventually worked, he said, "Facebook deleted more than 100,000 pieces of content in a matter of days. I think that's remarkable that the company only takes action when its business model is threatened."

Damage from the body cult

Although Facebook and its boss Mark Zuckerberg have repeatedly stressed that services like Instagram have no negative consequences for teenagers, the Wall Street Journal has come to a different conclusion - based on scientific research commissioned by Facebook itself. Young girls in particular, who are unhappy with their bodies, are even worse off after spending some time on Instagram.

Group speaks of "deliberate misstatements"

Facebook is trying to combat fake news and hate messages primarily in its English-language offerings in the U.S., Horwitz says. "Germany and Europe are probably high on that list. But then when it goes further down - countries that have weaker governments, laws or media - Facebook just doesn't spend money on it."

The documents, which The Wall Street Journal has been quoting from for days, are also said to be available to the U.S. Congress. Facebook only responded to the series of articles over the weekend. Nick Clegg, former British deputy prime minister and now Facebook's head of communications, said the reports contained "deliberate misrepresentations" and did not show the whole picture.