Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Facebook is set to create 1,000 new jobs in the second largest country that the company exists after the US, the United Kingdom, as the country prepares its exit from the European Union (EU).
According to Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Ms Sheryl Sandberg, on Tuesday, the addition was part of efforts to tackle toxic content posted on the social media.
It also revealed that it would look to further development in artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality and its messaging apps WhatsApp and Workplace, the latter of which is aimed at enterprises and to compete against Slack and Microsoft.
The addition will increase total workforce headcount in Britain to more than 4,000 personnel in London, where Facebook has over 3,000 employees, home to the company’s largest software engineering hub outside the US. The company said the majority of the job openings announced would be focused on technology and product.
According to Ms Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, the other roles will be in the “community integrity” team, which makes products to detect and remove harmful content from platforms like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Facebook VP said that the changes was also occurring as a result of Brexit, disclosing that the company still wants to invest in the United Kingdom.
“The Johnson government has been very clear about what that looks like, and so we will continue to invest here in London,” she said.
On his part, the UK Prime Minister, Mr Boris Johnson, said Facebook’s growth was great news, adding that, “We are committed to making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, alongside being one of the best places for technology companies to be based.”
Reports also noted that Facebook is trying to rebuild trust in its platforms after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, in which a British political consulting firm collected data from Facebook for voter profiling and targeting.
On his part, Mr Nick Clegg, Facebook’s public affairs chief and a former British deputy prime minister, said that the company would do a better job of preventing bad actors from manipulating this year’s US presidential election than it did four years ago.
