Insider Phenomenon: Facebook Employees Believe They Are Doing Enough

Yesterday Facebook removed a post by President Trump that said the seasonal flu was more deadly than Covid-19, a claim rejected by health experts. Twitter flagged the post as spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. 

On Blind, an anonymous professional network, with 3.6M verified users, Facebook Professional’s opinions are starkly contrasted by the overall sentiment of the survey responses. 

The platform ran a survey from 9/30- 10/07 and had 1,800 responses. The survey asked the following questions:

  1. Do you believe Facebook’s policies and algorithms are designed to benefit a specific presidential campaign?
  2. Do you believe Facebook is doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation and hate speech on its platform related to the next election?

Key Learnings: 

  • 31% of professionals believe Facebook’s policies and algorithms are designed to benefit Trump’s Campaign 
      • Contrasted by only 5% of Facebook professionals believe that
  • 48% of professionals don’t believe Facebook’s policies and algorithms are designed to benefit a specific presidential campaign
      • 84% of Facebook professionals don’t believe that
      • Only 29% of professionals believe  Facebook is doing enough to prevent the spread of misinformation and hate speech on its platform related to the next election
        • Contrasted by 71% of Facebook professionals who believe Facebook is doing enough 

You can see the report highlighting the overall responses here.

You can link to our blog for the data here.

A user at Lockheed Martin  posted “How Facebook is Enabling Set Up For Voter Intimidation: A political campaign is asking supporters with no training in what is and isn’t legal to loiter around polling places, maybe looking over the shoulder of county election workers or who knows what.”

In Early September, Blind similary asked its app users:

  1. Do you believe it is the responsibility of Facebook to prevent misinformation about the election?
  2. Are you surprised by Zuckerberg’s stance given his previous “free speech” stance?

Key Findings as of 9/04- 9/09 (~1,500 Responses): 

    • 68% of surveyed tech professionals believe it is the responsibility of Facebook to prevent misinformation about the election
        • Contrasted by only 47% of Facebook employees
  • 33% of surveyed tech professionals are surprised by Zuckerberg’s stance given his previous “free speech” stance
      • Contrasted by only 27% of Facebook employees

Any alteration to Facebook’s political ad policies is noteworthy—especially given how rigidly Zuckerberg has stayed the “free speech” course until now. 

Download the raw data: here.

These survey results suggest that Facebook’s employees disagree with other tech professionals about their hand in misinformation accountability. Which is consistent with our most recent findings. 

One user at Facebook writes, “It’s not Facebook’s job to sway voters one direction or the other. People are allowed to speak their minds, share their opinions, come to their own conclusions. If Trump is doing a good job swaying public opinion via social media, then it’s up to you and other concerned citizens to sway voters the other direction. Donate to campaigns. Volunteer. Vote. It’s not up to Facebook to decide this election. It’s up to us.”