ADDING FUEL TO FACEBOOK’S FIRE

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen reportedly filed two new complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) arguing the tech giant misled investors about its efforts to mitigate the spread of misinformation on climate change and COVID-19.

The allegations build on Haugen’s broader efforts to raise the alarm about her former employer through SEC complaints. The first round of complaints against Facebook were filed in October.

The new complaints were filed by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit representing Haugen, this month, The Washington Post reported. 

The complaints allege Facebook, now under its parent company Meta, made “material misrepresentations and omissions in statements to investors” about efforts to combat misinformation, the Post reported, citing redacted copies of the documents.

Despite Facebook’s public commitments to fight climate misinformation on earnings calls with reporters, one complaint alleges the content was prominently available on Facebook and that the platform lacked a clear policy on the issue as recently as last year, according to the Post.

The other complaint alleges that Facebook’s internal documents “paint a different story” on efforts to combat misinformation about COVID-19, despite the company and executives’ public statements pledging to remove the harmful, false information, the Post reported.