An Ex-Facebooker Devastatingly Piled Into Mark Zuckerberg's Stance Allowing Politicians to Lie in Ads Facebook's former head of global elections integrity voiced her concerns in a 'Washington Post' op-ed.

This story originally appeared on Business Insider

Samuel Corum/Getty Images via BI
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

A former Facebook employee has written a scathing op-ed article in The Washington Post condemning the company's approach to political advertising.

Yaël Eisenstat, a former CIA officer and White House adviser, joined Facebook in June 2018 as its head of global elections integrity operations.

She remained at the company for only six months.

Eisenstat said Facebook's business model was fundamentally biased against caring about election integrity.

"The real problem is that Facebook profits partly by amplifying lies and selling dangerous targeting tools that allow political operatives to engage in a new level of information warfare," she wrote.

She said that some of her colleagues during her time at Facebook were eager to address complex problems like misinformation in political advertising but that she encountered pushback at higher levels and was accused of "creating confusion."

Related: Twitter Bans Political Ads as Facebook Doubles Down

She agreed with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the company should not outright ban political advertising, as Twitter has done, but argued it should suspend political ads until it figured out a way to be more transparent about targeting.

Eisenstat's comments intensify pressure on Facebook, which has been on the defensive since announcing that it would allow politicians to lie in political ads.

The stance that has triggered blowback from politicians and Facebook's own employees. And multiple political candidates have run stunts meant to highlight how easy it is to slip lies into the public discourse through Facebook's ads. Twitter's CEO, Jack Dorsey, entered the fray by announcing his firm would drop all political ads.

Zuckerberg and the company's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, have defended the policy on free-speech grounds, saying private firms shouldn't censor politicians.

Eisenstat is not alone in calling for a temporary suspension of political ads. A group of UK-based nonprofits and academics recently wrote an open letter to Facebook and Google asking for a suspension of political advertising in the run-up to the 2020 US presidential election.

Related: This Facebook Ads Strategist Answers the 3 Commonly Asked Questions

Eisenstat called for regulation. "We need lawmakers and regulators to help protect our children, our cognitive capabilities, our public square and our democracy by creating guardrails and rules to deal directly with the incentives and business models of these platforms and the societal harms they are causing," she wrote.

Eisenstat is far from the only former Facebook employee to publicly turn on the tech giant. Its cofounder Chris Hughes has repeatedly called for the company to be broken up, and Roger McNamee, an early investor who mentored Zuckerberg, has called the company "toxic."

Facebook did not immediately respond when contacted for comment.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Business Solutions

Will This New AI Replace ChatGPT?

It's easier to use, has more features, and it's less expensive.

Franchise

This Franchise Saves 6 Items From Landfills Every Second. Here's How It Thinks About Sustainable Growth.

With over 1,300 locally-owned franchises and a 99% franchise renewal rate, this resale giant blends purpose with profitability.

Starting a Business

'Be Confident When You Ask Someone For Money': Shaq Gives His Best Advice to Student Entrepreneurs

On the new show, "The Grind," Shaquille O'Neal leads a group of investors and mentors looking for the next big idea.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Side Hustle

After This 26-Year-Old Got Hooked on ChatGPT, He Built a 'Simple' Side Hustle Around the Bot That Brings In $4,000 a Month

Dhanvin Siriam wanted to build something that made revenue from ChatGPT, and once he did, he says, "It just caught on."

Leadership

The End of Bureaucracy — How Leadership Must Evolve in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

What if bureaucracy, the very system designed to maintain order, is now the greatest obstacle to progress?