Zuckerberg denies Facebook puts profit over users’ safety

Washington : Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday dismissed accusations that the social network prioritizes profit over its users’ safety.

Former Facebook product manager and whistleblower Frances Haugen told a congressional testimony on Tuesday that the social network was allegedly being aware it inflicted harm on the mental health of teenagers but did not do much to prevent content promoting “hate and division,” as well as content that created a toxic environment for teenage girls.

“At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. That’s just not true,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook, adding that the platform cares “deeply about issues like safety, well-being and mental health.”

Many of the accusations make no sense, he continued, noting that if Facebook wanted to ignore harmful content, then its team would not create “an industry-leading research program to understand these important issues in the first place” and employ more people dedicated to fighting this content than any other company in the field.

“I know it’s frustrating to see the good work we do get mischaracterized, especially for those of you who are making important contributions across safety, integrity, research and product. But I believe that over the long term if we keep trying to do what’s right and delivering experiences that improve people’s lives, it will be better for our community and our business,” he concluded.

The claim against the tech giant comes after Facebook suffered outage of more than six hours on Monday, which also disrupted some of its other services, including Instagram and WhatsApp. US media, citing Facebook’s recovery team, reported that the outage was caused by a border gateway protocol update.

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