It is no secret that some apps on your smartphone consume more power than others, which adversely affects the longevity of your phone’s battery. Now a former Facebook employee has claimed that the social media website intentionally drains the batteries of smartphones. As per data scientist George Hayward, who used to work at Facebook, the social media company indulges in a practice called negative testing, which secretly drains the battery power of a user’s cellphone.As per the New York Post, Hayward alleged that his former employer, Facebook, intentionally drained the phone batteries of its users. The practice is called negative testing. The test is reportedly performed to test different features or problems with their apps, such as how fast the app runs or how quickly an image loads. However, the worst thing about the test is that the user does not have any idea that it is being conducted by an on their smartphone. Hayward called the practice harmful in a lawsuit filed against the company. He also raised concerns stating that this practice can be harmful.
“I said to the manager, ‘this could harm somebody,’ and she said by harming a few we can help the greater masses,” Hayward said. The 33-year-old ex-employee filed a lawsuit against Facebook in Manhattan’s federal court. In the lawsuit, he revealed that he was fired for refusing to participate in negative testing. He worked on Facebook’s Messenger app, which is used like any other messaging platform.“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,” he said.
Hayward told the publication that he does not know the exact number of users who were impacted because of Facebook’s negative testing. He further mentions that the company has started negative testing as he was handed over an internal training document titled, “How to run thoughtful negative tests,” which had examples of such experiments being carried out. “I have never seen a more horrible document in my career,” he said. Meta, which is Facebook’s parent company, is yet to address the allegations leveled by the former employee.
