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Former Facebook manager: We took a page from Big Tobaccos playbook

Speaking to Congress today, the former Facebook manager first tasked with making the company make money did not mince words about his role.

Allowing for misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news to flourish were like Big Tobacco's bronchodilators, which allowed the cigarette smoke to cover more surface area of the lungs.

To continue to grow the user base and in particular, the amount of time and attention users would surrender to Facebook, they needed more.

Kendall is far from the only former Facebook employee now to be expressing regret for his former work and staking out a stance against the company.

A few weeks later, Hughes took that message on a tour through Washington, meeting with members of Congress, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, and the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James to make a detailed case against Facebook.

Original article
Author: Ars Technica

Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis.

Ars Technica has recently written 11 articles on similar topics including :
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  4. "Civil rights groups go after companys bottom line". (June 22, 2020)
  5. "Every single time Facebook could improve, it doubles down on causing more harm". (October 6, 2020)
  6. "Controversial story proved fertile testing ground for social media disinfo policies". (October 15, 2020)
  7. "The policy is a reversal for Facebookif it actually sticks or is enforced". (October 12, 2020)
  8. "Canadas Inuit culture has come to Instagram and Facebook". (August 1, 2020)
  9. "Banning future problems is great. Letting current ones fester is not". (October 8, 2020)
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  11. "The 2016 policy seems finally to have cracked to the point of breaking". (June 29, 2020)
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