On Sunday, CBS 60 Minutes featured the Facebook whistleblower, who caused a stir by releasing internal documents that detailed how the company failed address negative effects of its social-media products.
Frances Haugen is a data scientist who was a product manager for the Civic Integrity team at Facebook. She claims that the platform has misled the public about how it resolved hate and violence in order to increase engagement and traffic.
Facebook realized that changing the algorithm to make it safer will result in people spending less time on the site, clicking on fewer ads and making less money. Haugen spoke out to Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes correspondent.
Frances Haugen is the whistleblower on Facebook.
Haugen, 37 years old, joined Facebook in June 2019, with the hopes of improving Facebook's handling of misinformation. She lost a friend to conspiracies online and she wanted to improve how Facebook handles it. She resigned in April 2021 and leaked massive amounts of internal documents and research from Facebook to the Wall Street Journal.
According to her LinkedIn profile, she has previously worked for other Silicon Valley tech giants like Google and Pinterest. Haugen said that Facebook had been putting safety and user engagement above all else.
Tens of thousands of these documents were submitted to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission. She was also the main source for the Journals Facebook Files stories that revealed how Facebook's algorithm encourages anger to drive engagement. It favors high-profile users and how Instagram makes nearly one-third more teenage girls feel worse about themselves.
Jeff Horwitz, Journal tech reporter for the Facebook Files stories confirmed Haugens identity, after she made herself known on the show.
The Senate launched an investigation into controversial internal research and Facebook's attempts to obscure it. On Tuesday, Haugen will testify before Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security.
What is Facebook doing to respond?
Facebook issued a long statement to respond to the 60 Minutes interview and has since reacted to Haugens claims. Our teams must balance the rights of billions of people to speak freely with the need for our platform to be safe and positive. Lena Pietsch is Facebook's director of policy communications. We are making significant improvements in our efforts to combat misinformation and harmful content. It is absurd to suggest that we encourage harmful content and do not do anything about it.
Facebook announced that its Instagram Kids app will be put on hold amid criticisms about Instagram's impact on children's mental health.
The social media giant took to its blog to criticize the Journal's mischaracterization of Facebooks efforts to combat misinformation in reporting. Nick Clegg, Vice President for Global Affairs, criticized the paper's cherry-picking of documents leaked by Haugen.
Clegg stated that Facebook recognizes the immense responsibility of operating a global platform. Clegg said that we take this responsibility seriously and don't shy away from criticism and scrutiny. We fundamentally reject the mischaracterization of our work or impugning the motives of the company.
What is Haugen trying achieve?
Haugen stated that she does not have anything against Mark Zuckerberg, and that she is certain that he didn't intend to create a hateful platform.
She told Pelley that she has a lot empathy for Mark. He has made choices that have led to hateful and polarizing content being more widely distributed and reached.
Haugen wrote on Twitter shortly after the show aired that she believed we could do better.
We can all create social media that brings out our best. She tweeted that we solve problems together, not alone.
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