Facebook set to tighten rules on what its staff can discuss

The move comes days after employees have spoken up on Facebook’s internal discussion boards against the company’s policies, especially since charges of political bias emerged against Facebook India executives who are accused of favouring the ruling political party.

Facebook has announced it will soon update the policies on its internal employee discussion platform and impose restrictions on their ability to debate social and political issues, a move that comes amid growing questions about how the social media company tackles problematic content on its main service for the public.

At least three employees HT spoke to said they were worried that Facebook was monitoring their devices and scrutinising their comments on the internal messaging system. (Reuters file photo)

The move comes days after employees have spoken up on Facebook’s internal discussion boards against the company’s policies, especially since charges of political bias emerged against Facebook India executives who are accused of favouring the ruling political party.

A company spokesman said CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined his plans for the curbs to employees on Thursday, with details of the new rules to be announced next week, according to Reuters. “What we’ve heard from our employees is that they want the option to join debates on social and political issues rather than see them unexpectedly in their work feed,” spokesman Joe Osborne said. Osborne said the rules will apply to employee discussions of how executives handle politically sensitive content on FB’s platforms.

Conversation flows freely on Workplace, an internal social network that resembles Facebook’s namesake platform. As staffers have become vocal about their disagreements with Zuckerberg, statements posted on Workplace have leaked to the press.

At least three employees HT spoke to said they were worried that Facebook was monitoring their devices and scrutinising their comments on the internal messaging system. “Instead of setting standards by focusing on problematic content, we are being monitored,” a US-based employee told HT.

Two Facebook India employees said the company is monitoring gadgets and apps used by employees. “We all sign a confidentiality clause when we join, but we are now under increased surveillance,” one employee said. Another said, “All official emails are under the scanner, as are our official mobile phones. It is not safe to even send text messages using WhatsApp because that too is owned by FB.”