Facebook has been draining users’ phone batteries without their consent, according to an ex-employee, who claims he was fired for refusing to comply with the practice.
Facebook parent Meta has been using “negative testing” for over five years, according to data scientist George Hayward, 33, who started working on the Messenger app in October 2019.
In a now withdrawn lawsuit filed on Jan. 20, Hayward said he had seen an internal document titled “How to run thoughtful negative tests,” which laid out details of the practice and examples leading back to 2016.
That document indicates that Meta has been using “negative tests” across its platforms, which have around 2.96 billion users according to recent reports. They are used to “measure impact” by testing new features, and by measuring how quickly the app runs, how images load, and how news feed scrolls perform.
When asked to participate, Hayward said he refused out of concern for the risks involved in depleting users’ power, especially in cases when they have to communicate with others, like emergency services.
Hayward’s lawyer Dan Kaiser maintained that negative testing is not legal in New York, according to the New York Post, saying that it violates a law that prohibits damaging someone’s property without their consent.
“It’s clearly illegal,” Kaiser said. “It’s enraging that my phone, that the battery can be manipulated by anyone.”
Negative testing concerns shut down
The ex-employee said he doesn’t know how many people have been affected by the tests, but that when he expressed this to his supervisor at the time, his concerns were pushed to the side.
“It turns out if you tell your boss, ‘No, that’s illegal,’ it doesn’t go over very well,” Hayward told the New York Post.
“I said to the manager, ‘This can harm somebody,’ and she said by harming a few we can help the greater masses.”
According to the suit, Hayward noticed retaliation including low performance ratings, reviews that were canceled and then rescheduled, and the assignment of responsibilities that set him up for failure.
He was fired in November, which coincided with Meta’s recent mass layoffs. However, his lawyers argue that this was no coincidence.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, has now been withdrawn because of Meta’s internal arbitration clause. However, Hayward stands by his allegations, his lawyer told the Post.
A Meta spokesperson told Fortune: “Mr. Hayward’s claims are without merit.”
