Meta built content censorship system to break into China, report says– mashable.com
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Excerpt:
Mark Zuckerberg tried to get Facebook into China, where it is blocked, for well over a decade. According to a whistleblower report, Zuckerberg and Meta considered some fairly unsavory tactics to make it happen, including a censorship system and sharing user data.
The whistleblower in this case is Sarah Wynn-Williams, who filed a 78-page complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The report, obtained exclusively by The Washington Post, alleges Facebook considered giving China’s ruling party the ability to censor content and squelch dissent. Also included in the report was Meta’s willingness to share user data with China.
The complaint from Wynn-Williams reportedly alleged that Facebook, in 2015, created a censorship tool for China that would allow it to remove content or shut down the site during “social unrest.” The complaint from Wynn-Williams, who was fired in 2017 from her job working on a team that worked on China policy, reportedly contains internal Meta documents.
Mashable Light Speed The complaint also alleges that Facebook faced pressure to store Chinese users’ data in China, which could’ve made it easier for the government to access the information. Facebook also allegedly considered weakening privacy protections for Hong Kong users in an effort to appease China.
Mark Zuckerberg Offered China Full Censorship Control And User Data Access, Says Meta Whistleblower: ‘Working Hand In Glove With The Chinese Communist Party’ – Benzinga
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Excerpt:
A former Meta Platforms, Inc. executive has accused the company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg of going to extraordinary lengths—including enabling censorship and offering data access—to gain a foothold in China.
What Happened: In a whistleblower complaint filed with the SEC in April, Sarah Wynn-Williams, Meta’s former global policy director for China, made these allegations.
She stated that the company, formerly Facebook, developed a China-specific censorship system in 2015 and proposed installing a “chief editor” to manage and potentially shut down content during periods of social unrest.
The 78-page whistleblower complaint, reviewed by The Washington Post, claims Meta was prepared to give the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) oversight of all Facebook content in China and store user data locally—making it more accessible to government surveillance.
