Zuckerberg Rejects Claims Made by Facebook Whistleblower: ‘Don’t Make Any Sense’

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is arguing against claims made by a Facebook whistleblower.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before the Senate on Tuesday, where she said, “Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares of Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled. And in the end, the buck stops with Mark. There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself,” as IJR reported on.

She also said during a recent “60 Minutes” interview, “Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety.”

Haugen accused Facebook of “optimizing for content that gets engagement, or reaction, but its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing — it’s easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.”

Zuckerberg fired back, writing in a statement on Tuesday, “Many of the claims don’t make any sense.”

He added, “At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. That’s just not true.”

The Facebook CEO also wrote:

“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don’t know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction.”