Sometimes, it’s best to just log off.
That’s a lesson Facebook is learning the hard way on Tuesday.
During a
However, Stone’s remarks weren’t really directed at anything of
And now he’s getting dunked on both over Twitter and at the Senate hearing.
Stone’s
“Just pointing out the fact that @FrancesHaugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook,” tweeted Facebook’s communications director.
“As she herself just said under oath, ‘I don’t work on it.'” he continued.
In another
“I’m sure they are some of the more profitable users on Facebook, but I do not work directly on them,” Haugen replied.
Stone emphasized “I do not work directly on them.”
Facebook’s Director of Policy Communications Lena Pietsch also put out an official
It is true that Frances Haugen did not work on child safety issues on Instagram. She never claimed to do so. Haugen’s role at Facebook was as a lead product manager on civic misinformation. She also says she worked on counter-espionage.
However, the documents that she provided to Congress and the
Haugen was very careful throughout the hearing to speak to what she had knowledge of at Facebook via her time working there and the documents she exposed. Stone’s focus on her truthful statements about what she did not have firsthand knowledge of is a bizarre defense strategy. And it’s one that got him eviscerated on Twitter.
Facebook’s communications director also got called out in real time by Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) from inside the hearing.
Senator Blackburn read Stone’s tweets when she was made aware of them and invited him to “to step forward, be sworn in and testify before this committee.”
In subsequent tweets, Stone did
Stone also
Facebook and its employees certainly have the right to defend themselves. However, the defense strategy during the hearing did none of that. If anything, it only appears to have created more public relations
It’s been an especially rough few days for Facebook. The company suffered the largest
But the through line connecting the company’s many woes is that these issues are all self-inflicted. Facebook has no one to blame but itself.