Chamath Palihapitiya, who started working for Facebook in 2007 and became the platform's vice president for user growth, recently slammed the leading social media site saying the founders “have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”
Chamath further told CNBC that he feels “tremendous guilt” for the impact that Facebook has had on the world, adding that his own children are “not allowed to use this shit."
Since Chamath's interview has hit headlines, Facebook has released a statement saying the company is much different than what it was years ago. “Chamath has not been at Facebook for over six years,” the statement reads, via NY Post. “Facebook was a very different company back then and as we have grown we have realized how our responsibilities have grown too.” The platform notes how they have done “a lot of work and research” to understand the effects its has on it users. “We are also making significant investments more in people, technology and processes, and — as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call — we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made.
This isn't the first time former staffers of the company have come forward with negative comments. Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker, said that Facebook exploits “a vulnerability in human psychology” that makes us addicted. "...It literally changes your relationship with society [...] it probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains."