How a LinkedIn post paved the way for “The Facebook Files”

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Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz first connected with Frances Haugen, now known as the Facebook Whistleblower, late last year. He was trying to meet more sources on Facebook to learn more about how the company was handling content on its platforms around the 2020 election.
He’s tried LinkedIn’s “old spam approach to source building,” he called it in an interview on this week’s “Trusted Sources” podcast.

That’s when journalists use the professional social network to send messages to dozens of employees hoping to have one or two. I “haven’t heard from anyone for a month,” Horwitz said.

But then, in December 2020, Facebook disbanded its Civic Integrity Team, which had been accused of thorny issues regarding election interference and overall security around the election.

“The day I first heard of Frances was the day the civic team was disbanded,” Horwitz said.

Listen to the full podcast here:

He eventually won Haugen’s trust – and access to a wealth of internal company research. But “the first thing that happened was she checked me out,” he said. It was clear that she was considering speaking out, but “I had no idea at the time that she was going to do something so substantial and so methodical.”

Horwitz said he learned that Haugen was deeply troubled by Facebook’s impacts around the world. She made this point in her testimony to Congress on October 5: “My fear is that without action, the divisive and extremist behavior that we see today is just the beginning,” she said. “What we have seen in Myanmar and now in Ethiopia are the first chapters of a story so terrifying that no one wants to read the end of it.”

But during her first conversations with the Journalist from The Journal, she didn’t expect to speak on Capitol Hill and become a familiar face to millions of people.

Following the dialogue on LinkedIn, the reporter and the source met in person and went for a “walk in the woods” in the hills near Oakland, California. Haugen tried to understand his motives and vice versa. And she suggested a pseudonym, “Sean,” as a tribute to a recently deceased friend.

Horwitz began telling his editors what “Sean” shared with him. And the Facebook Files series was born.

Looking back, Horwitz says, Facebook Files was “the most important thing I’ve ever worked on.” And it’s not over yet – he says he could easily write thousands of more words right now. He confirmed there were more stories in the works.

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