We’re Diving Into the Leaked ‘Facebook Papers,’ Come Hang Out

You’ve in all probability seen the deluge of damning information tales about Facebook from a number of shops this previous week. Those got here due to Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen, who not too long ago leaked 1000’s of inside paperwork, together with inside worker discussions, memos, analysis, and displays, to a consortium of reports shops as a part of a mission collectively dubbed the “Facebook Papers.” Now that Gizmodo has its mitts on the recordsdata, we’re wanting to share them with you.

There are just a few causes we haven’t seen all of those paperwork launched publicly — although right here at Giz, a minimum of, we’re at the moment discussing choices for doing that. First, a bit concerning the format: Most if not the entire “documents” are literally photographs of a pc display screen taken with somebody’s cellphone. While unredacted variations had been shared by Haugen with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a part of her whistleblower complaint, the copies we’re receiving have been redacted by her authorized group. All of the interior chats and different paperwork had been redacted to take away the names of “low-level” Facebook staff.

This means Gizmodo is unable to succeed in out to particular person staff for remark relating to the opinions they expressed concerning the firm and the best way it’s being run.

The tales which have come out already are only the start—anticipate much more of these items to be launched over the approaching weeks. We’re going to do our greatest to present you guys entry to the uncooked paperwork as quickly as doable (and there are, once more, A Lot Of Them), and put them into context.

We anticipate to obtain a brand new batch of paperwork every day, however we gained’t know something about them prematurely. As we’re poring over them, we’ll be sharing our takeaways right here—together with hyperlinks to finish recordsdata the place doable.

What we need to do is give people exterior of the consortium—and outdoors of journalism, extra typically—entry to the identical materials we’re seeing. Other people have pointed out that researchers in fields like tech ethics and misinformation deserve this entry, as do regulators and everybody else who’s involved about Facebook’s outsized energy. We agree and can launch every little thing we will, as quick as we will.

This story relies on Frances Haugen’s disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had been additionally supplied to Congress in redacted kind by her authorized group. The redacted variations acquired by Congress had been obtained by a consortium of reports organizations, together with Gizmodo, the New York Times, Politico, the Atlantic, Wired, the Verge, CNN, and dozens of different shops.