Facebook secretly drained users' smartphone batteries in app test, worker claims in lawsuit

Facebook can secretly drain its users’ phone batteries, a former employee has claimed in a lawsuit. The employee was fired in November for refusing to participate in the practice known as "negative testing".

It allows tech companies to “surreptitiously” use up people's phone batteries in the name of testing features or issues such as how fast their app runs or how an image might load, data scientist George Hayward told New York Post. He said that he had informed his manager about the problem.

“I said to the manager, ‘This can harm somebody,’ and she said by harming a few we can help the greater masses,” said the 33-year-old claimed.

Hayward has worked on Facebook’s Messenger app, which allows users to send text messages and make audio or video calls. The app is a crucial communication tool in many countries, he told the publication, and it has 1.3 billion users worldwide. It ranks fourth among the most-used social media platform, according to the Digital 2021 Global Overview Report, quoted by New York Post.