Facebook's 'Ugly' Memo Brings More Controversy To The Company
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- How far would Facebook go to maximize its profit? A leaked memo from a top executive has many people wondering.
In the June 2016 memo titled "The Ugly", Facebook executive Andrew Bosworth wrote that connecting people on Facebook can be good, and bad.
"Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies", Bosworth wrote. "Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools."
He continued: "The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is de facto good."
Bosworth sent the memo three days after a man in Chicago was shot dead during his Facebook Live broadcast.
After the memo was leaked Thursday, Bosworth posted a statement on Twitter, saying, "I don't agree with the post today and I didn't agree with it even when I wrote it. The purpose of this post was to bring to the surface issues I felt deserved more discussion with the broader company."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded.
"Boz is a talented leader who says many provocative things, but this was one that most people at Facebook including myself disagreed with strongly. We've never believed the ends justify the means."
"The comments about terrorism it is just him being provocative," said Wired Magazine's Nick Thompson who also says what is striking about the memo are his comments about growth. "That growth is everything. The company is relentless about growth, that is true and it is rare and fascinating to have a Facebook executive say that so bluntly."
After weeks of losses, Facebook's stock price went up a bit on Wednesday when the company announced changes to help users find and adjust their privacy settings. However, it is unknown how this latest news potentially could affect the stock market reopens on Monday.
