If you use Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp, you may not know that the content you see on these platforms is partly shaped by a former CIA agent.
His name is Aaron Berman, and he is the senior product policy manager for misinformation at Meta, the company that owns the three social media giants.
Aaron Berman Career From CIA to Meta
Aaron Berman joined the CIA in March 2002, shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
He spent 15 years at the agency, rising to become a senior analytic manager.
In this role, he prepared and edited the President of the United States’ daily brief, a top-secret document that summarizes the most important intelligence and analysis for the commander-in-chief.
Berman left the CIA in July 2019 and joined Meta (then known as Facebook) as a senior product policy manager for misinformation.
According to his LinkedIn profile, his job is to write the rules for Facebook if something violates our standards for safety and security.
He also leads a team that develops policies to combat misinformation and disinformation on Facebook’s platforms.
In June 2023, Berman was promoted to head of elections policies at Meta, a position that gives him even more influence over what users can see and say on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp during election periods.
List of Facebook CIA Agents
Berman is not the only former CIA agent working at Meta.
A bombshell investigation by MintPress News revealed that Facebook has recruited dozens of individuals from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as well as many more from other agencies like the FBI and Department of Defense (DoD).
Some of these ex-CIA agents include:
- Mike Torrey, who left his job as a senior analyst at the agency to become Meta’s technical lead of detection, investigations and disruptions of complex information operations threats.
- Hagan Barnett, who is now head of harmful content operations at Meta after working as a CIA contractor.
- Deborah Berman, who spent 10 years as a data and intelligence analyst at the CIA before becoming a trust and safety project manager for Meta.
- Bryan Weisbard, who worked as a CIA intelligence officer from 2006 to 2010 and is now a director of trust and safety, security and data privacy for Meta.
- Cameron Harris, who served as a CIA analyst until 2019 and is now a trust and safety project manager at Meta.
Conclusion
The presence of so many ex-CIA agents at Meta raises serious questions about the company’s independence and transparency.
Meta has been accused of censoring content that goes against the U.S. government’s interests or narratives, such as information about COVID-19 treatments, vaccine side effects, election fraud, foreign policy issues, human rights violations and more.
With ex-CIA agents like Aaron Berman deciding what users can see and say on Meta’s platforms, it is hard to trust that the company is acting in good faith and respecting the freedom of expression and information of its billions of users around the world.
