EXIT INTERVIEW

Facebook Whistleblower Accuses Company of Enabling Jan. 6 Riot, Memo Says

A Facebook whistleblower who left the company with reams of documents is scheduled to appear on “60 Minutes” Sunday.

Facebook has gone into damage-control mode ahead of a 60 Minutes interview in which a former employee is due to accuse the company of enabling the Jan. 6 riot. A Facebook vice president sent a 1,500-word memo to employees Friday to pre-empt the allegations that are expected to come out on Sunday, The New York Times reports. The whistleblower will say that Facebook let down election-related safeguards and that the company’s negligence allowed the participants of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot to organize on Facebook, according to the internal memo. The former employee, whose identity has not been disclosed, left with reams of internal research showing the company knew its products were causing harm, particularly to teenagers, but did little to correct the ills. Facebook VP Nick Clegg, for his part, wrote, “What evidence there is simply does not support the idea that Facebook, or social media more generally, is the primary cause of polarization.”