Meta ex-employee makes explosive revelation, Facebook can read your messages even after deletion

An ex-employee of Facebook has made an explosive revelation: Staff members at the social media network have access to users’ erased data. As per PetaPixel, the whistleblower claims that he was fired for raising concerns about a new company protocol that allows staff to not only access deleted user data but also share it with law enforcement. Brennan Lawson, who formerly worked as Meta’s content screener, a role similar to a Facebook Content Moderator claims that the protocol has been there for three years. Lawson alleges that he was made aware of the new protocol during a staff meeting in late 2018 and that he became concerned about its legality.

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He further claims that upon questioning the legal standing of the said protocol he was fired and consequently spent 18 months unemployed. In addition to more than $3 million in compensation, he’s seeking punitive damages from Facebook and its parent company Meta.

As per an NYPost report, Lawson also made mentioned Facebook content moderators being able to access deleted data and messages from the platform’s Messenger application.

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Bloomberg reports that in his complaint, he further mentions that “Law enforcement would ask questions about the suspect’s use of the platform, such as who the suspect was messaging, when messages were sent, and even what those messages contained.” 

Lawson claims that to keep Facebook in the good graces of the government, “the Escalations Team would utilise the back-end protocol to provide answers for the law enforcement agency and then determine how much to share.”

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According to the complaint, the protocol appeared to go against both a Federal Trade Commission ruling requiring Facebook to provide users with proper information about its data retention policy and European Union digital privacy laws.

Meta’s official statement stated, “These claims are without merit,” and that the company will “defend ourselves against them vigorously.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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