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martyb writes:

Facebook Executives Ignored Warnings, Deflected Blame as Scandals Mounted, Report Says :

From Russian election meddling to a massive data privacy scandal, Facebook has faced a seemingly endless list of troubles. Now, a new report suggests the social network's leadership may be among its biggest challenges.

Over the past three years, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg ignored warnings, deflected blame and were distracted by other projects as the social network lurched from crisis to crisis, according to a more than 5,000-word report by The New York Times. The paper, which interviewed more than 50 people for the story, painted an unflattering portrait of two executives' handling of the series of scandals, some of which eventually promoted [Ed: prompted?] Congress to ask both of them to testify.

The piece focused on Facebook's handling of fake news posted by Russian trolls ahead of the 2016 presidential, the impact of which Zuckerberg initially dismissed as "crazy," and the company's efforts to deflect blame after data of 87 million users was harvested by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The story also touched on in-fighting at the highest of levels of the company.

"Bent on growth, the pair ignored warning signs and then sought to conceal them from public view," The Times wrote. "At critical moments over the last three years, they were distracted by personal projects, and passed off security and policy decisions to subordinates, according to current and former executives."

Facebook told the paper it was committed to addressing the challenges.

Honesty: The absence of the intent to deceive.

Original Submission