Facebook accessed deleted consumer information, fired screener claims

A former Facebook content material screener says he was fired for elevating alarms a few new firm protocol permitting staff to resurrect information that customers deleted.

Brennan Lawson sued Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook’s guardian, Tuesday in California claiming he was knowledgeable concerning the new protocol throughout a employees assembly in late 2018 and instantly questioned its legality. Soon after, he mentioned he was fired and remained unemployed for 18 months. He’s looking for greater than $3 million in compensation plus punitive damages.

The new protocol allowed members of the social community’s Global Escalation Team “to circumvent Facebook’s normal privacy protocols” by retrieving information from the Messenger app “that users had chosen to delete,” in line with Lawson’s criticism.

The protocol appeared to violate European Union digital privateness guidelines and a Federal Trade Commission order that required Facebook to precisely inform customers about its information retention insurance policies, in line with the criticism.

Lawson mentioned he realized he was on “shaky ground” for questioning the legality of the apply and fearful he’d be fired if he pressed the difficulty. He was fired in July 2019, for allegedly improper use of a Facebook administrative software. He claims that was pretextual and an act of retaliation for his criticism.

Facebook didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched after common enterprise hours.

The Escalation Team used the protocol to assist regulation enforcement companies in investigations of customers, Lawson mentioned.

“Law enforcement would ask questions about the suspect’s use of the platform, such as who the suspect was messaging, when messages were sent, and even what those messages contained,” Lawson claimed. “To keep Facebook in the good graces of the government, the Escalations Team would utilize the back-end protocol to provide answers for the law enforcement agency and then determine how much to share.”