After Whistleblower and Facebook Outage, Zuckerberg's Fortune Drops $6B
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw over $6 billion in losses to his personal wealth in several hours Monday (Oct. 4) when the popular social media site and its various associated apps were down, Bloomberg reported.
This comes just a day after a whistleblower came forward, accusing the company of putting profits before safety, according to the report.
Facebook saw a selloff that sent company stock falling 4.9%, which compounded on a 15% dip since around mid-September, the report stated. Zuckerberg saw a drop in his worth to $121.6 billion, far beneath the $140 billion mark where he was a few weeks ago.
Facebook has seen other strife in recent weeks, with The Wall Street Journal publishing documents that showed the company knew about issues with several of its products, including the harm to the mental health of teenagers on Instagram and misinformation regarding the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
The reports drew the interest of officials, and the whistleblower revealed her identity Monday, according to the report. Facebook said in response that the issues like political polarization are complicated, not coming down to technology alone.
“I think it gives people false comfort to assume that there must be a technological or a technical explanation for the issues of political polarization in the United States,” Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg told CNN.
In other Facebook news, the social media giant has filed to dismiss a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit, which says Facebook uses monopolistic behavior.
Read more: Facebook Pushes for FTC Lawsuit Dismissal
Facebook said the FTC’s vote to file an amended complaint was invalid due to Chairwoman Lina Khan having been part of a House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust. Facebook said Khan should have recused herself from the matter.
The company said Khan’s participation in the House Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust “at the very least creates the appearance that the Chair has prejudged the facts and cannot be unbiased or impartial.”