Facebook has been struggling to attract younger users for more than a decade, and some senior employees are alarmed over the company’s inability to keep teens engaged. When asked by analysts about growth prospects, Facebook executives frequently paint a rosier picture than the one depicted by internal research, a whistle-blower alleges.

       Those are just some of the findings outlined in a cache of disclosures made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, and provided to Congress in redacted form by her legal counsel.

       Facebook executives have long known that the platform’s hate-speech problem was bigger and more entrenched than the company discloses. While Facebook prioritizes rooting out violence and hateful content in English-speaking Western nations, it neglects developing regions that are more vulnerable to real-world harm from negativity on social media.

       A Facebook team tasked with stemming the flow of harmful posts was hamstrung by a lack of staffing, limits placed on its product development and the platform's engagement-focused algorithm that often ends up promoting content that can be false and divisive.

       Facebook staff who study misinformation have concluded that the social network’s core products contribute to the spread of harmful material, and the company’s own efforts to quell misinformation are sometimes undermined by political considerations.

       In 2019, Facebook set up a test account in India to determine how its tools affect people in its most important market; within three weeks, the fictional user’s account devolved into a maelstrom of fake news and incendiary images.

       Facebook’s own staff, including internal researchers, faulted the company for failing to thwart the proliferation of groups that fomented violence on Jan. 6.