45% of Facebook Professionals Say ‘Yes’ to Federal Regulation of Facebook
Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, is not the only employee Mark Zuckerberg might want to worry about.
Forty-five percent of Facebook employees said the federal government should impose regulations on Facebook, according to a survey by the professional social network Blind. Blind polled more than 5,000 professionals in the U.S., including 482 verified Facebook professionals.
Among all professionals surveyed by Blind, five out of seven (72%) answered affirmatively to the question: “Should the federal government impose regulations on Facebook?” Professionals at Facebook’s rival social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snap, Twitter and TikTok-developer ByteDance, were among the most enthusiastic for new rules for the $900-billion Internet giant.
Despite the support for Haugen’s goals — In testimony before the U.S. Senate last week, she urged lawmakers to regulate her former employer — Facebook workers are otherwise unimpressed.
A true whistleblower
Nearly three out of four Facebook professionals (74%) said they were convinced by their company’s defense to the whistleblower’s allegations.
In contrast, Facebook’s defense fell flat with professionals outside of the social media giant. More than three out of four professionals (76%) surveyed by Blind found Facebook’s response unconvincing.
In response to Haugen’s testimony on Capitol Hill, Facebook claimed she did not have much subject-matter experience while working at the company for less than two years. The company spokesperson also noted Haugen had “testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question.”
Current Facebook employees shared this concern.
“During her testimony, she either 1) spoke in very broad strokes on things we know already, 2) made errors in her broad characterizations or 3) just stated her personal opinion,” said Blind user Chromeo, a verified Facebook professional, in a discussion about Facebook’s response to Haugen.
“It’s a joke to call her [a] whistleblower. She just exfiltrated documents. A true whistleblower would’ve been party to a specific decision or actions that would’ve been damning against the company,” continued Chromeo, referring to Facebook’s statement that said Haugen had never attended “decision-point” meetings with C-level executives.
“The point is that she doesn’t have a lot of tools to really testify for what she is saying. These are just opinions she has,” Blind user gEKd541, another verified Facebook professional, agreed in a separate discussion about Facebook’s statement.
Negligible damage to Facebook’s future
Despite the widespread coverage of Haugen’s allegations, Facebook professionals remain largely optimistic about the company.
“It won’t go beyond the senate hearings because there is nothing substantial in them to actually reprimand Facebook for,” said Blind user wartime, a verified Facebook professional, in reference to the leaked internal Facebook presentations.
Fifty-seven percent of Facebook professionals say the whistleblower’s allegations will have “negligible” damage to Facebook’s future, while another 39% say consequences will be “somewhat damaging.”
Only one in twenty Facebook professionals think Haugen’s allegations will be “very damaging.”
Similarly, among the more than 5,000 professionals surveyed by Blind, few believe Facebook will face enduring consequences due to the recent revelations.
The bottom line
Nearly half of all Facebook professionals say their employer should face more federal regulation, according to a survey by Blind. However, many Facebook employees appear to be doubtful any significant consequences will result from Frances Haugen’s whistleblower testimony.
The sentiment among most Facebook employees appears to be that Haugen does not have the subject matter or technical expertise to make credible claims about the social media company’s inner workings or decision-making.
Methodology
Blind conducted an online survey of 5,241 verified professionals, including 482 Facebook professionals, in the U.S. from Oct. 9 to 11, 2021, on its platform. Percentages reported may not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Survey respondents answered yes or no to the following two statements:
- Are you convinced by Facebook’s defense to the whistleblower’s allegations?
- Should the federal government impose regulations on Facebook?
Survey participants answered “very damaging,” “somewhat damaging” or “negligible” to the following question:
- How damaging will the whistleblower’s allegations be to Facebook’s future?