Facebook Restricts Internal Discussion Channels to Limit Leaks

With a whistleblower coming out with internal documents, Facebook restricts access to some internal discussion groups for its own employees.

 

Facebook has a lot of internal discussion groups within its company with Workplace. These are now managed more strictly so that not all employees can see them. The company does this after ex-employee Frances Haugen came out with sensitive information about the company, including that Facebook knew very well how harmful Instagram is for the self-image of young people.

The company confirmed the choice to the Wall Street Journal. “Leaks diminish the effectiveness, efficiency and morale of the teams working every day to address the challenges that come with a platform that billions of people use,” Facebook said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

The company adds that those leaks “may expose employees working on sensitive topics to external risks and lead to complex topics that are misrepresented or misinterpreted.”

Discussion groups will be limited from now on, such as platform safety and dealing with elections (and disinformation or manipulation around it). Not coincidentally, two items that Facebook is under fire for. In recent weeks, it has emerged (again) that Facebook is doing far too little to keep users safe. But also that a special department on election manipulation was also closed down.