A former employee says Facebook is intentionally draining users’ cellphone batteries

Hayward was fired by the Meta in November and sued the company in Manhattan federal court. The 33-year-old was working on the Meta Facebook Messenger app that delivers text messages, phone calls and video calls between users. In the suit, Hayward’s attorney, Dan Kaiser, notes that draining users’ smartphone batteries puts people at risk especially “in circumstances where they need to communicate with others, including but not limited to police or other rescue workers.”

Social media apps such as Facebook Messenger can intentionally drain batteries to power users’ smartphones

The lawsuit had to be withdrawn because the terms of Meta’s employment forced Hayward to plead his case in arbitration. Kaiser says most people have no idea that Facebook and other social media companies can drain your battery on purpose. Commenting on the practice of negative testing, the lawyer added, “It’s clearly illegal. It’s outrageous on my phone, and anyone can tamper with the battery.”

At some point during his work at Meta, the company handed Hayward an internal training document titled “How to Conduct Informed Negative Tests.” The document included examples of how to conduct such tests. After reading the document, Hayward said it seemed to him that Facebook had used a negative test before. He added, “I have never seen a more egregious document in my professional life.”