NASHVILLE – People in Nashville shared their thoughts with Fox News about Facebook as the tech giant faces an onslaught of negative attention, particularly after earlier this month a whistleblower leaked thousands of internal documents alleging the company consistently chooses profit over safety.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday the company would rebrand itself under the name "Meta," though Facebook, Instagram and other apps the company owns would keep their names.
"I think Facebook is good and bad," one man in downtown Nashville told Fox News. "It's good for publicity but I think people post way too much personal stuff on there, and that can be dangerous."
Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on Oct. 23, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Another man said: "I'd say they need to be regulated a lot more, I suppose. I don't know if they need to be broken up, per se."
Another added: "I don't see any reason they should be broken up, but I don't have any reason to back that up or anything."
When asked if she believed Facebook should be broken up, one woman said: "With the things that they're saying about Mark Zuckerberg in the news and how he can send documents to other places without you really knowing, I guess so."
Frances Haugen left Facebook in May and provided internal company documents to journalists and others, alleging the company consistently chooses profit over safety. (Jabin Botsford-Pool/Getty Images)
Facebook has been the target of scrutiny and negative publicity after whistleblower Frances Haugen came forward and accused the social media giant of prioritizing profit over the well-being of its users.
The documents, now referred to as the "Facebook Papers," revealed content moderation failures and the negative effects Facebook’s Instagram has on its users.
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Frances Haugen, a former civic project manager for Facebook’s misinformation team, testified before Congress on Oct. 5, 2021. (Jabin Botsford)
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The latest document dump Monday revealed Facebook’s own staffers are upset with its biases and failure to stop what they consider hate speech and misinformation.
"I feel like when companies are a monopoly and they get a little too much power and control, yeah, maybe they should be broken up," a Nashville resident said.
Another told Fox News: "I'm for free commerce, free business and whatnot, but I think they've gotten a little too big for the britches."
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