Facebook knows it is in trouble as Mark Zuckerberg picks his battles

When Senator Edward Markey on Tuesday called Frances Haugen “a 21st-century American hero,” it underlined the trouble Facebook finds itself in. Haugen, a former Facebook employee who appeared before a US Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, has blown the lid off what the social media company would have hoped remained a secret. She has highlighted how Facebook prioritised profits.

It did not help with the optics that Facebook chose Antigone Davis, its global head of safety, and vice president (global affairs and communications) Nick Clegg to contest Haugen’s claims. The outage of all Facebook services this week added to the company’s woes.