October 14, 2021

According to the New York Times, Facebook plans to make some groups on its internal workplace messaging boards about platform security and election protection private – a move the platform wants to take to prevent further leaks.

While the number of groups set to go private remains unknown, the company told The Verge that the move has been in the works for months.

According to Facebook, “Leaks decrease the effectiveness, efficiency, and morale of the teams working every day to address the challenges that come with operating a platform for billions of people. They can also put employees working on sensitive subjects at risk externally and lead to complex topics being misrepresented and misunderstood.”

Facebook has made headlines this past week following a Senate testimony when the whistleblower and former Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed that Facebook knew its products were damaging the mental health of teenage girls.

In addition, the company opposed changes that would make the content of its main platform less divisive, and that it was aware that its main platform was being used to incite ethnic violence in Ethiopia, and Haugen corroborated those reports with a series of leaked files she had received before leaving the company.

For more information, read the original story in The Verge.