Facebook exerts pressure to get ex-employee's website taken down to prevent revealing scandal

Facebook exerts pressure to get ex-employee's website taken down revealing secrets
Sophie Zhang worked as a data scientist at Facebook. A month after the company told her she was being fired, she published an article on her own website, which was separate from Facebook, about how Facebook could have done more to stop political interference around the globe.
She was sent a memo by a higher up Facebook employee in Human Resources asking her to remove the article.
When she did not, she found out her entire website was suddenly shut down.
Facebook had issued a complaint with the hosting server of that website, which then took the entire website down.

Zhang's job while at the company was to identify fake social accounts that were trying to manipulate political outcomes in places like Bolivia and India, a workload that she described as monumental. According to her, Facebook was slow to act, subsequently allowing the bots to successfully influence elections. However, she said Facebook prioritized its public image when choosing which false accounts to probe.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/oth...s-suddenly-shut-down/ar-AAMHWDi?ocid=msedgntp

 

A Facebook whistleblower says she turned down a $64,000 severance package that would have barred her from criticizing the company
Sophie Zhang told her story to MIT Technology Review.

Former Facebook data scientist Sophie Zhang spent her time at the company identifying fake accounts that could manipulate election outcomes around the world.
When she was fired for "poor performance" last year, Facebook offered her a $64,000 severance package - if she signed a nondisparagement agreement (NDA).

Nondisparagement agreements are legally binding documents that prevent workers from sharing negative comments about the company and its employees.

This week, Insider published a sweeping NDA transparency project that reviewed 36 NDAs from major tech companies and discovered how far Silicon Valley's giants will go to silence and control their employees. Workers said the agreements caused them to evade questions from family, seek treatment for depression and PTSD.

Zhang said she turned down the money so she could publicly reveal what was happening.

A Facebook whistleblower says she turned down a $64,000 severance package that would have barred her from criticizing the company (msn.com)