Facebook allegedly drains users' mobile batteries, claims former employee in lawsuit

Facebook can secretly drain its users' mobile batteries, claimed a former employee who filed a lawsuit against the social media giant. George Hayward, a data scientist, revealed that a practise known as "negative testing" allows tech companies to "surreptitiously" consume a larger percentage of cellphone batteries. During this testing process, the app shows how fast their software system is or how an image might load, according to the New York Post.

When Hayward came to know about the app's "negative testing" feature, he discussed the same with his manager, who responded by saying that they were helping the greater masses and that if a few users were harmed during this process, it was not a huge concern. "I said to the manager, ‘This can harm somebody,’ and she said that by harming a few, we can help the greater masses."

Facebook's former employee accuses the platform of secretly draining users' mobile batteries

Later, the 33-year-old data scientist filed a lawsuit at the Manhattan Federal Court in November for refusing to participate in negative testing. According to the outlet, Hayward worked on Facebook's Messenger app, which allows users to send written messages or make phone or video calls, and it is widely used by several million users across the world, he said.

"Any data scientist worth his or her salt will know, ‘Don’t hurt people,'" he told The Post. In the litigation filed against Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, Hayward mentioned that draining someone’s cellphone battery puts people at risk, especially "in circumstances where they need to communicate with others, including but not limited to the police or other rescue workers."

"I refused to do this test," he said, adding, "It turns out if you tell your boss, ‘No, that’s illegal,’ it doesn’t go over very well." The data scientist further said that he doesn't know how many people are actually affected by Facebook's negative testing, but he said he came to know about this after he was given an internal training document titled "How to Run Thoughtful Negative Tests," which included examples of such experiments being carried out.

"I have never seen a more horrible document in my career," he said. "Most people likely have no idea Facebook or other social media companies are capable of draining a cellphone battery intentionally," said Hayward’s lawyer, Dan Kaiser. However, the lawsuit filed by Hayward has been withdrawn as he is required to go to arbitration, said the lawyer. "It’s clearly illegal," Kaiser said of the practice. "It’s enraging that my phone, that the battery can be manipulated by anyone."

Image: AP