Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s quest to keep employees from talking to the media has current and former insiders likening his tactics to something out of an Orwellian police state.
A new report on Silicon Valley tech giants by the U.K. newspaper The Guardian features former Facebook loyalists who describe a working environment of perpetual “paranoia” due to a “horrifying” level of internal surveillance. The newspaper spoke to multiple sources on condition of anonymity about Facebook’s “rat-catching” team, which they claim exceeds reasonable means of preventing leaks.
“It’s horrifying how much they know,” a source referred to under the pseudonym John Evans said for a report published Friday. “You go into Facebook and it has this warm, fuzzy feeling of ’we’re changing the world’ and ’we care about things’. But you get on their bad side and all of a sudden you are face to face with Mark Zuckerberg’s secret police.”
Mr. Evans claimed that his encounter with Facebook’s investigation team led him to believe that chats he had with a journalist prior to his employment were accessed for an interrogation.
“When you first get to Facebook you are shocked at the level of transparency. You are trusted with a lot of stuff you don’t need access to,” he added. “The counterbalance to giving you this huge trusting environment is if anyone steps out of line, they’ll squash you like a bug.”
Facebook spokeswoman Bertie Thomson dismissed Mr. Evans’ allegations as hyperbole.
“Companies routinely use business records in workplace investigations, and we are no exception,” she told the newspaper.
The Guardian countered with testimony by a European Facebook content moderator. His contract allegedly gave the company “the right to monitor and record his social media activities, including his personal Facebook account, as well as emails, phone calls and internet use.”
The individual was also prepared to receive “random personal searches of his belongings including bags, briefcases and car while on company premises.”
Another former employee said USB keys were left around as “mouse traps” to test honesty and integrity.
“If you find a USB or something you’d have to give it in straight away,” the source said. “If you plugged it into a computer it would throw up a flare and you’d be instantly escorted out of the building. Everyone was paranoid. When we texted each other we’d use code if we needed to talk about work and meet up in person to talk about it in private.”
Ms. Thomson again said that Facebook acts within its legal purview.
“We do not use cellphones to track employee locations, nor do we track locations of people who do not work at Facebook, including reporters,” she said.
The newspaper concluded by mentioning Facebook’s decision to hire outside contractors like Pinkerton.
One service provided by the company includes sending “investigators to coffee shops or restaurants near a company’s campus to eavesdrop” on conversations.
“These tools are common, widespread, intrusive and legal,” said Al Gidari, consulting director of privacy at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, the newspaper reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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