LEAK IN THE PRESS

ON INTERNAL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT FACEBOOK

Dismantling of Facebook, moderation, future of social networks. The American site The Verge recorded an audio recording of Mark Zuckerberg during a likely question-and-answer session with his employees. The CEO of the company expresses his point of view. The discussion, which should have remained private, took place in July according to The Verge, which does not specify how they remained these recordings, nor what was the precise framework of the discussion.

The issue of dismantling Facebook has become a campaign issue in the United States. Elisabeth Warren, Democratic senator in the race for the Democratic nomination for the presidential election of 2020, calls for the dismantling of the big companies of Tech. It is joined by two thirds of Americans. The federal government has opened an investigation, and even former Mark Zuckerberg employees are actively working to dismantle Facebook. "The dismantling of Facebook, Google or Amazon, will not really solve the problems (...) and will not reduce the risk of electoral interference," says Zuckerberg to his employees, before reassuring his troops:

"You have someone like Elizabeth Warren who thinks the right answer is to dismantle the companies ... If she gets elected president, well I'd bet we'd have something to challenge her [her project] legally, and I'd also bet we would have enough to win. Is this afraid for Facebook? Yeah. I do not want, in the absolute, that we are caught in a big lawsuit against our own government ... But, in the end, if someone tries to threaten something so existential, you go to the carpet and you you fight. "

Elizabeth Warren immediately reacted on her Twitter account, after publication of The Verge's article:

"What would really" be afraid "would be failing to repair a corrupt system that leaves huge companies like Facebook engaging in illegal anti-competitive practices, trampling on the privacy rights of its customers, and repeatedly to fail in their duty to protect our democracy. "

"Somewhat dramatic reports"

Another area addressed by Mark Zuckerberg is that of moderation platforms. Several moderators of the social network entrusted, in investigations conducted by the Verge or the Gardian in particular on these little hands responsible for cleaning the social network, that their working conditions were difficult and that the contents, sometimes very violent, endangered their mental health. And it's true that contractors are not treated as well as Facebook employees. Timed work day, less pay, no job security. The company would still have a lot of work to do on the subject, even if Zuckerberg explains that these "reports are a bit dramatic".

"Some of these investigations are, I think, presented too dramatically," Mark Zuckerberg reacts to Facebook employees.

"Most people do not look at horrible things all day long. (...) I think there are more than 30,000 people dedicated to moderating content. It's a huge effort. (...) With 30,000 people working on this topic, there is a variety of experiences for these employees. He says again.

Non-invasive technologies

Finally, on the future of technology and social networks, Mark Zuckerberg returned to the launch of Libra, his new home-grown cryptocurrency, as well as the human-machine interface projects that are currently driving his company since the acquisition. of the start-up CTRL-Labs. In July, the governments of developed countries expressed their fears and reluctance to the cryptocurrency Libra, which Facebook intends to launch in the coming months.

The boss of Facebook was particularly reassuring, explaining that unlike Elon Musk and his projects Neuralink, he intended to focus exclusively on non-invasive technologies: "You found that the launch of Libra was complicated, imagine the headlines "Facebook is embarking on brain operations". I do not prefer to think of congressional hearings on this subject. (...) What we hope to do is simply pick up some signals. It will be possible for example to click with your brain while looking at something in augmented reality ... It's exciting (...) It will be possible to write with your brain without having to use the hands or the eyes ".

Facebook had been so far spared by such a leak while in 2018, Google had seen the entirety of an internal conference of its leaders reacting to the election of Donald Trump be published by the site Breitbart ultraconservative.

The full audio recording of Mark Zuckerberg can be found on The Verge's website.