A former employee says Facebook is intentionally draining users’ cellphone batteries

Hayward was kicked out by a Facebook parent’s meta for refusing to participate in a negative test. “I said to the manager, ‘It can hurt somebody,’ and she said that by hurting some, we can help the bigger fans. Any scientist worth their salt will know: don’t hurt the masses. The people, who profession.

Hayward was fired by Meta in November and initially sued the company in federal court in Manhattan. The 33-year-old was working on the Meta Facebook Messenger app, which transmits text messages, phone calls and video calls between users. Dan Kaiser, Hayward’s attorney in the lawsuit, noted that draining users’ smartphone batteries puts people at risk, particularly “in circumstances where they need to communicate with others, including, but not limited to, police or other emergency responders.” “.

The lawsuit had to be withdrawn because the terms of Meta’s employment forced Hayward to submit his case to arbitration. Kaiser says most people have no idea that Facebook and other social media companies can drain your battery on purpose. Commenting on the practice of negative testing, the lawyer added: “It is clearly illegal. It is outrageous that my phone and its battery can be tampered with by anyone.”

Originally hired in 2019, Hayward earned a six-figure annual salary from Meta. But regarding the company’s request for negative tests, Hayward said: “I refused to take that test. It turns out that if you tell your boss, ‘No, it’s illegal,’ things won’t go well.”

At some point during his work with Meta, the company gave Hayward an internal training document titled “How to Perform Reflective Negative Tests.” The document included examples of how to conduct such tests. After reading the document, Hayward said it seemed to him that Facebook had used negative tests before. “I have never seen a more horrible document in my professional life,” he added.