‘Maybe someone dies:’ 2016 memo lands Facebook exec in hot water
Mar 31, 2018, 4:24 AM
FILE In this Nov. 15, 2010 file photo, Facebook engineer Andrew Bosworth talks about the new Facebook messaging service at an announcement in San Francisco, Calif. Bosworth says he didn't agree with a provocative memo leaked to Buzzfeed in which he describes the company's mentality to grow and connect people at all costs. Bosworth said on Twitter Thursday, March 29, 2018, that he didn't agree with the post even when he wrote it. In the 2016 internal memo titled "The Ugly," he writes that "all the work the work we do in growth is justified," even if it costs someone their life because they are exposed to bullies or die in a terrorist attack. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
A 2016 memo from a Facebook executive about what the company would do to keep growing has critics concerned about the social network’s management.
The 2016 memo said that Facebook’s goal is to connect people no matter what, according to BBC.
“We connect people. Period. That’s why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China some day. All of it,” vice president Andrew “Boz” Bosworth wrote, according to BuzzFeed News.
Bosworth said, “Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack co-ordinated on our tools. And still, we connect people.”
Read part of the memo below that has people questioning the company’s motives:
“So we connect more people.
That can be bad if they make it negative. Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack co-ordinated on our tools.
And still, we connect people.
The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good. It is perhaps the only area where the metrics do tell the true story as far as we are concerned.
(…)
That’s why all the work we do in growth is justified. All the questionable contact importing practices. All the subtle language that helps people stay searchable by friends. All of the work we do to bring more communication in. The work we will likely have to do in China someday. All of it.”
The memo comes about two weeks after controversial reports revealed that a company improperly obtained Facebook data on 50 million of the company’s users. That company, Cambridge Analytica, had political ties to President Donald Trump’s election campaign.
In response, celebrities, executives and other Facebook users have started a movement to #DeleteFacebook.
Bosworth’s memo highlights how “one senior executive — one of Zuckerberg’s longest-serving deputies — prioritized all-encompassing growth over all else, a view that has led to questionable data collection and manipulative treatment of its users,” according to BuzzFeed.
Bosworth tweeted that he didn’t agree with the post at the time he originally shared it.
My statement on the recent Buzzfeed story containing a post I wrote in 2016 pic.twitter.com/lmzDMcrjv5
— Boz (@boztank) March 29, 2018
"why did you write a post you don't agree with?" It was intended to be provocative. This was one of the most unpopular things I’ve ever written internally and the ensuing debate helped shape our tools for the better.
— Boz (@boztank) March 29, 2018
Zuckerberg said the memo does not reflect the vision of the company, according to Time magazine.
“We’ve never believed the ends justify the means,” Zuckerberg said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “We recognize that connecting people isn’t enough by itself. We also need to work to bring people closer together. We changed our whole mission and company focus to reflect this last year.”
In 2007, an interview with Zuckerberg revealed the Facebook founder’s plan for the future, which ultimately led to the recent controversy. Zuckerberg said his company would allow developers to create apps inside the platform, much in the same way Windows operating software does.
Fast-forward 10 years and that’s what led to the recent controversy. Cambridge Analytica bought its data from a researcher who had previously built a personality quiz app for Facebook.
