The Facebook Papers: 5 Key Takeaways From Release of Whistleblower Documents

In recent days, a slew of potentially damaging Facebook insights have been published by a variety of outlets, all under the title of “the Facebook Papers.”

In short, these “Facebook Papers”—now at the center of an investigative project including extensive reporting from at least 17 U.S. outlets—mark a more thorough look into the internal documents and related criticism that first made headlines earlier this year in connection with whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Speaking with 60 Minutes for an interview shared in early October, Haugen—a data scientist who later testified before Congress—highlighted the company’s “conflicts of interest” and warned that the current version of Facebook is “tearing our societies apart.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in response, shared a lengthy post to Facebook in which he argued that news coverage of the testimony and surrounding issues “misrepresents our work and our motives.”

Fast forward a few weeks, and the general public—through the release of coordinated reports on redacted documents—has a better opportunity to sift through the findings surrounding the oft-criticized social media behemoth. Below, we’ve rounded up a few highlights from the “Facebook Papers” project. 

Complex also reached out to a Facebook spokesperson, who offered the following on Monday:

“At the heart of these stories is a premise which is false. Yes, we’re a business and we make profit, but the idea that we do so at the expense of people’s safety or wellbeing misunderstands where our own commercial interests lie. The truth is we’ve invested $13 billion and have over 40,000 people to do one job: keep people safe on Facebook.”