Ex-Facebook employee unpacks: ‘The ‘secret police’ investigated me’

It’s been a year since Facebook changed its name to Meta and announced its plans for the “Metaverse,” the technology that will one day replace the Internet as we know it. Niklas Steenfatt was then under contract with the tech giant for more than two years, as a data analyst and later as a developer in London. The monthly salary: about 20,000 francs. The German’s job: to fight hate messages, fake news, depictions of violence and pornography on the platform.

The work was fun for him. “It’s exciting to work on products that billions of people use every day,” he says. And even though he couldn’t sleep for a few nights after seeing photos of mutilated children’s bodies at work, Steenfatt emphasizes that this work is important. “We get to see these photos better than the rest of the world.”

Unlike the tens of thousands of cheap, unskilled workers Meta employs around the world as filters for human content, Steenfatt couldn’t fault his job. The then 25-year-old actually wanted to do a doctorate after studying mathematics and computer science in Cambridge and Paris. But Facebook’s job offer was too tempting: 25,000 francs immediately after signing the employment contract. The doctorate could wait.

Steenfatt had a great job at Facebook – until he suddenly fell out of favor

A great job, plus the princely wages, all went well. But then Steenfatt fell out of favor with Meta. The reason: The German also has a YouTube channel where he occasionally talks about IT topics and his work – very positively. A clear violation of Facebook’s corporate policy, which requires every employee to remain silent. “It’s not like I spilled any trade secrets on my channel,” Steenfatt said. “But of course there is this clause and I have violated it”.

Suddenly Steenfatt gets to feel the dark side of Facebook. And it has it all: employees stick to him, they were secretly questioned about him. His immediate supervisor was also interrogated behind his back by a kind of ‘secret police’, as the German put it. This department is called “Employee Investigation” located in Singapore. “A lot of people,” Steenfatt says. The company itself declined to provide any information when asked.

He himself was not informed of the ongoing investigations against him, and for weeks and months he did not even know what he was specifically accused of. Then came the confrontation. In a confidential meeting, Facebook laid the cards on the table: a collection of quotes, transcripts and minutes the company had painstakingly compiled about the German, including personal conversations from employees’ internal chats.

“Of course you have spy software on all your devices”

I want to know how they got there. “Of course you have spy software on all your devices,” Steenfatt says as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Hardcore surveillance,” as he puts it, every Facebook company device is equipped with a backdoor. These are called ‘managed devices’. Facebook can basically pick up every keystroke from its employees. Meta declined to comment on this either.

What surprises me is the fact that Steenfatt repeatedly defended his former employer in conversations. For example, regarding the internal documents made public by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Much has been taken out of context, some of the results were even falsified, says the German. Facebook isn’t “bad” per se, as he says. What you must have against the group is the blatant lack of transparency.

“If you see how Facebook uses data against its own people, is Facebook dangerous?” After all, I want to know about Steenfatt. “Naturally!” says the computer scientist without even blinking. According to the ex-employee, there was huge potential for danger if the Facebook data records fell into the wrong hands, adding, “If they aren’t already.”