In order to prevent Democrats and Republicans from joining in opposition to Facebook, which recently switched its name to Meta, the company’s Washington team reached out to Republicans and claimed that Haugen was a Democratic activist who wanted to encourage President Biden’s party, according to the Journal.
Meanwhile, Meta operatives reportedly alerted Democrats that Republicans would use Haugen’s information to slam the company’s decision to exclude posts in support of Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted this year of murder and attempted murder charges.
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Republicans and Democrats who talked to the paper talked about the calls to stop lawmakers from uniting across party lines in opposition to Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp.
During previous crises, Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg have followed the traditional playbook of publicly apologizing and pledging to make changes.
GONE TOO SOON: NYPD MOURNS FALLEN OFFICER AFTER FATAL CONFRONTATION, IS BIDEN'S AMERICA TO BLAME?
But after Haugen leaked internal documents this year showing Instagram’s negative effects on teen mental health, struggles to crack down on human trafficking and role in amplifying lies about political issues, the company has taken a harder line.
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According to the Journal, Zuckerberg has told workers not to say sorry and urged them to respond more vehemently to bad press. The paper reported that long-time board members, including venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andressen, have egged Zuckerberg on.
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The Journal’s reporting comes after a Facebook employee who worked with caustic comms staffer Andy Stone told The Post in October that the company’s aggressive approach was designed to please Zuckerberg and Sandberg.
“The traditional corporate PR playbook says that the company apologizes, offers to be part of the solution and generally finds ways to make Congress happy,” the ex-employee said. “Facebook is beyond that right now.”
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“The target audience is Mark and Sheryl,” the former staffer added.
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During this fall’s maelstrom of bad press, some Meta executives also expressed the idea of dropping plans for a version of Instagram targeted at children, according to the Journal. But Zuckerberg reportedly said that abandoning Instagram for kids wasn’t an option — so the company announced in September that it would “pause” the project.
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While many Meta critics are suspicious of Haugen’s proposed solutions — which include creating a federal regulator to control Facebook rather than using antitrust law to break it up — there seems to be a consensus in Washington, DC, that her leaks show that something must be done about the company.