Facebook CEO Addresses Controversies Surrounding Platform in an FB Post

Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg just addressed controversies surrounding the social platform, a rare move from him. This comes at the heels of the release of internal documents referred to as "the Facebook Papers", which whistleblower and former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen believes could prove that Facebook's leaders have intentionally and repeatedly put the company's image and profit first over the safety of the platform's users. These were shared with the U.S. Congress in redacted form after Haugen disclosed them to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the documents are being reviewed by a consortium of news organizations, which are doing their own investigations into the allegations.

Credit: Eric Risberg via AP

Here's a summary of what Zuckerberg said in his post:

• First, Zuckerberg believes that the recent debate around the company is a coordinated effort to paint a false picture of his company.

• He then discussed the struggle he and his company is facing when it comes to making decisions that deal with "competing social equities", stating the need to balance such equities like free expression and policing harmful content or giving researchers access to information and protecting user data.

• He says that Facebook's research and transparency programs are "industry-leading". The company has dedicated over 40,000 people and will invest more than US$5 billion in safety and security in 2021.