We'll start with this report from CNBC:
Some former Facebook employees say their phone is ringing a lot more in the last two months. On the other line: former Facebook colleagues asking about job openings or looking for a reference.
This type of behavior is normal at most companies. But according to a half dozen former employees, all of whom left in the last year or two, it's a major change in behavior at Facebook, which had long been known around Silicon Valley as the company that no one leaves.[...] The shift could be an early warning of recruiting and retention challenges for Facebook after a turbulent year.
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The stories from former employees are only anecdotal at this point, and there's no firm data showing a significant uptick in departures or employee dissatisfaction. On Glassdoor, a site where workers anonymously review their employers, Facebook is among the best-rated tech companies, with a satisfaction rating of 4.3 out of 5. However, that rating has fallen noticeably during the last year, with a particularly sharp drop in the last few months.It looks like those earlier reports of morale problems at the scandal-plagued social media firm may have been on the money; we'll have to see if this story continues to grow, and if it receives corroboration from elsewhere. In the face of Facebook's obvious rampant amorality and occasional outright evil, though, I'm less inclined to be sympathetic to these would-be rats, apparently seeking to abandon their slowly sinking ship. They had no qualms at all about sticking around when it looked like they could do whatever the fuck they wanted to with impunity, after all. Considering how much damage they've had a hand in doing to the fabric of society and democracy worldwide, any tears that I'd be crying at the sight of their misfortunes would be of the crocodile variety.
Speaking of rats, though...
It looks like Nick Clegg, the former UK politico who eagerly engaged in a "fake news" campaign to con the Brits into Brexit before abandoning the sinking ship of the political party that he'd undermined in the process, may be the worst possible man to save Facebook from their own consequences. As reported by the Guardian:
In October, Facebook named the former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to head its global policy and communications office. In the days since the New York Times detailed Facebook’s efforts to use antisemitic language to smear political opponents, one question has been whether Clegg will actually show for work in January, when his job starts. Why would someone with such a sterling résumé want to clean such a disgusting mess?
Yet Facebook executives may have chosen the perfect man for the task. That is, if their aim is to shutter their deeply troubled corporation. Clegg, after all, is the man who almost single-handedly destroyed the Liberal Democrat party, after a generation of committed liberal activists rebuilt the institution back into a major force in UK politics. Whence the moniker the British press coined long ago – Calamity Clegg.
To be sure, salvaging Facebook at this point is probably beyond the talents even of General Electric’s celebrated CEO Jack Welch in his prime. Facebook’s inability to keep socially and politically destructive disinformation off its platform poses an existential threat to the corporation. The problem is Facebook’s business model, and that’s something no public relations chief can fix.
And Clegg, despite being Facebook’s first addition in a decade to its core management team, is anything but a PR whiz.Perfect! Who better to take the PR helm at Facebook in the middle of a self-inflicted PR crisis, with an incoming Democratic House majority keen to hold real hearings on the subject of Facebook's malfeasance... oh, and maybe a second Brexit referendum, which won't be awkward for Calamity Clegg at all.
Anyone who was hoping that Facebook's problems were behind them has been deluding themselves. This shit-show is just getting started... and I've got popcorn.