Facebook is the subject of two new Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaints filed by Whistleblower Aid, the nonprofit organization representing Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, first reported by The Washington Post. The complaints accuse Facebook, now Meta, of misleading investors about its efforts to address misinformation about climate change and COVID-19. Complaint Alleges Prominent Presence of Climate Change Misinformation The first complaint, obtained by The Washington Post, alleges the presence of readily available climate change misinformation on Facebook, disproving Facebook’s claims that it is fighting against climate denial fade away. It also contains internal documents detailing employees’ own experiences with climate-related falsehoods on the platform. As The Post noted, an employee reports that he searched for “climate change” in the View tab and then saw a video promoting “climate misinformation” as the second result. The video in question reportedly garnered 6.6 million views. Another employee allegedly urged the company to remove the misinformation about the weather, instead of simply labeling the posts as possible falsehoods. The complaint also mentions Facebook’s Climate Science Information Hub, a credible climate change information hub that the platform launched in 2020. As The Post reported, the complaint references internal records that claim user knowledge of the center was “very low”, suggesting that it may not have had the intended range. Last year, Meta tried to bolster its Climate Science Information Center with additional quizzes, videos, and facts. A study conducted months later found that climate change denial has become even more pervasive on the platform. The second complaint alleges that Facebook’s promise to combat misinformation about COVID-19 did not align with 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 record from May 2020 in which employees note the presence of hundreds of anti-quarantine groups. Last July, President Joe Biden accused Facebook and other social platforms of “killing people” with misinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines. “We have directed more than 2 billion people to authoritative public health information and continue to remove false vaccine claims, conspiracy theories and misinformation,” Meta spokesman Drew Pusateri said in a statement emailed to TheVerge. “There are no single solutions to stop the spread of misinformation, but we are committed to developing new tools and policies to combat it.” Haugen leaked a large number of internal Facebook documents, dubbed the Facebook Papers, to the Wall Street Journal last year. Since then, he has testified before Congress to discuss possible changes to Section 230, the law that protects websites from legal liability for illegal content that users may post. The SEC did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Update February 20 at 5:50 pm ET: Updated to add a statement from a Meta spokesperson
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