Facebook just suffered a huge blow in its reputation

This isn t shaping up to be a great month for Facebook.

First it was rocked by allegations from former product manager Frances Haugen.

Then two outages knocked out Facebook and its core services WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger for several hours on Oct 5 and Oct 9.

While the company was quick to fix the outage, damage to its reputation from allegations of prioritising profits over ethics may take longer to remedy. Indeed, on Oct 5 the company s share price dropped 15 per cent since its record high on Sep 7.

Facebook has become a rather large target its services count for 4 of the top 5 app downloads globally and its user base includes more than a third of the world s population.

The criticisms from Haugen echoed therefore around the globe. She claimed in her Oct 5 testimony before the US Congress that the company deliberately failed to address teenage mental health issues, its algorithms promoted hate speech and ethnic violence, and investors had been misinformed about the company s declining user base in certain demographics.

Allegations that Facebook is aware of its harmful effects but hides or overlooks them have led to US lawmakers drawing comparisons between the social media giant and Big Tobacco.

Such criticisms have not only caused a blow to the company's reputation, but have served as the basis for eight complaints filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.