WSJ assures that the US Government investigates Facebook for malpractices | WORLD

The Federal Trade Commission (CFC) of the United States began to examine internal documents of Facebook where the company recognizes the harmful effects on its users, as published exclusively by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The commission, a government regulatory body, believes it knows that the company, according to its own internal investigation, assumes that it is aware that the algorithms used in its accounts “they foster discord”Between users and that the Instagram application (which Facebook owns) is harmful to a considerable number of users, mainly teenagers.

If confirmed, that would mean Facebook deliberately violated a 2019 agreement with the CFC that cost it a $ 5 billion fine for improper privacy protection.

The company has issued a statement in which it does not explicitly confirm that it is being investigated but says “be ready to answer questions from regulators and continue to cooperate with government inquiries”, While the CFC has not officially ruled so far.

The senator Richard Blumenthal, who chairs the consumer protection subcommittee in the Senate, told the newspaper that the CFC is concerned if Facebook deliberately withheld information about its internal investigation, something that if confirmed, he said, means that “the CFC should be very angry. “

Blumenthal ensures that he and the senator Marsha Blackburn they already asked in August Facebook on the effects of its platform on children, but that the platform “eluded” your questions.

The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg has been in the eye of the hurricane for several weeks after the WSJ unveiled in September a series of bad practices related mainly to the lack of protection of its underage users and the lax treatment it does with hate speech.

The pressure redoubled after the main source of the WSJ, an example of Facebook named Frances Haugen, will appear before a Senate subcommittee and testify that the company puts business benefits before any other consideration regarding the safety of its users.