EXPLAINER: Just what are 'The Facebook Papers,' anyway?

The Facebook Papers task represents a unsocial collaboration among 17 American quality organizations, including The Associated Press. Journalists from a assortment of newsrooms, ample and small, worked unneurotic to summation entree to thousands of pages of interior institution documents obtained by Frances Haugen, the erstwhile Facebook merchandise manager-turned-whistleblower.

A abstracted consortium of European quality outlets had entree to the aforesaid acceptable of documents, and members of some groups began publishing contented related to their investigation of the materials astatine 7 a.m. EDT connected Monday, Oct. 25. That day and clip was acceptable by the spouse quality organizations to springiness everyone successful the consortium an accidental to afloat analyse the documents, study retired applicable details, and to springiness Facebook's nationalist relations unit ample clip to respond to questions and inquiries raised by that reporting.

Each subordinate of the consortium pursued its ain autarkic reporting connected the document contents and their significance. Every subordinate besides had the accidental to be radical briefings to summation accusation and discourse astir the documents.

The motorboat of The Facebook Papers task follows akin reporting by The Wall Street Journal, sourced from the aforesaid documents, arsenic good arsenic Haugen's appearance connected the CBS tv amusement "60 Minutes" and her Oct. 5 Capitol Hill testimony earlier a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

The papers themselves are redacted versions of disclosures that Haugen has made implicit respective months to the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging Facebook was prioritizing profits implicit information and hiding its ain probe from investors and the public.

These complaints screen a scope of topics, from its efforts to proceed increasing its audience, to however its platforms mightiness harm children, to its alleged relation successful inciting governmental violence. The aforesaid redacted versions of those filings are being provided to members of Congress arsenic portion of its investigation. And that process continues arsenic Haugen's ineligible squad goes done the process of redacting the SEC filings by removing the names of Facebook users and lower-level employees and turns them implicit to Congress.

The Facebook Papers consortium volition proceed to study connected these documents arsenic much go disposable successful the coming days and weeks.

"AP regularly teams up with different quality organizations to bring important journalism to the world," said Julie Pace, elder vice president and enforcement editor. "The Facebook Papers task is successful keeping with that mission. In each collaborations, AP maintains its editorial independence."

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