A former Facebook employee has filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms, alleging he was unlawfully fired in 2019 after raising concerns about a protocol that allowed moderators to retrieve deleted messages from Messenger. Brennan Lawson, a US Air Force veteran, filed the suit in California on Tuesday, seeking more than $3 million in compensation plus punitive damages.
According to the lawsuit, Lawson worked as a Senior Risk & Response Escalations specialist. In late 2018, a manager introduced a new tool to the Escalations team that enabled access to deleted user data. The protocol, built by Ashley McHugh, was used to provide law enforcement with deleted messages of specific users. Lawson claims the tool went live around November or December 2018 and could access anyone's Messenger history, including children using Messenger for Kids.
Lawson expressed immediate concerns about the legality of the protocol, arguing it violated a 2012 Federal Trade Commission order that prohibited Facebook from misrepresenting its ability to control user privacy. He noted that Facebook had repeatedly stated it could not access such data. After raising his concerns, Lawson received a poor performance review and feared retaliation. He claims stress from the situation led to a hospital visit on June 19, 2019, with severe abdominal pain and fever.
Lawson was fired on July 10, 2019, allegedly for improper use of a user admin tool when reinstating his grandmother's hacked account. He contends this was a pretext for retaliation. A Meta spokesperson told DailyMail.com: 'These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves against them vigorously.' DailyMail.com has not independently confirmed the allegations.
