Meta Told TechCrunch He Is No Longer Employed. The Statement Does Not Say Fired or Resigned.

DOCUMENTED

Entrance to the Facebook headquarters complex in Menlo Park, California

Facebook headquarters entrance, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park. Photo by LPS.1, 2 March 2014. Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0. File page. Not a portrait of Miles. Not the sting video.

On February 18, 2022, Ingrid Lunden at TechCrunch reported that Meta — Facebook’s parent company — had confirmed Jeren A. Miles, a manager of global community development, was no longer employed. The confirmation followed news reports of an amateur sting video posted two days earlier by a group that called itself PCI / Predator Catchers Indianapolis.

A Meta spokesperson, provided through Drew Pusateri, gave TechCrunch this statement: “The seriousness of these allegations cannot be overstated. The individual is no longer employed with the company. We are actively investigating this situation and cannot provide further comment at this time.” The Independent, the Washington Examiner (quoting Daily Caller News Foundation), Just the News, The Post Millennial, and the Daily Beast printed the same personnel sentence or a close paraphrase.

That is the documented fact on this page: Meta said he is no longer employed. The statement does not say he was fired. It does not say he resigned. TechCrunch wrote the fork out loud — “whether he was fired or resigned voluntarily.” Business Insider, asked the same week, also said the spokesperson did not clarify. This file does not pick a verb Meta did not use.

TechCrunch also wrote a limit on the video itself: it does not depict a sex act, and it does not show him admitting a specific sex act or an intent to carry one out. The same piece reported that, during questioning, he admitted inappropriate communications with a person he believed was a 13-year-old boy. That is as far as this site goes. An amateur video is not a court. This site does not host or link the video.

Sources

Ingrid Lunden. “Meta axes a head of global community development after he appears on video in underage sex sting.” TechCrunch. February 18, 2022. Primary-ish report of the Meta statement; also states the video does not depict a sex act. techcrunch.com

The Independent. “Facebook manager loses job after allegedly caught on YouTube in paedophile sting.” Quotes the Meta statement; says it is unclear if he was fired or resigned. independent.co.uk

Washington Examiner. “Facebook employee caught in sting video allegedly trying to prey on teenage boy.” Quotes Daily Caller News Foundation for the Meta confirmation. washingtonexaminer.com

Business Insider. “Meta Says Manager Left Company After Civilian Underage Sex Sting Video.” February 2022. Spokesperson did not clarify fired versus resigned. businessinsider.com

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Meta used the careful verb: no longer employed. Not fired. Not resigned. A company that ran the world’s largest community shop said a community manager was gone after a video, and stopped there. That is a personnel sentence. It is not a docket. Anyone who upgrades it to a conviction is writing fiction.