The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in internal documents, recently revealed that Facebook allowed its VIPs to violate its rules and that they were aware of the negative effects Instagram had on teens' mental health. Frances Haugen, the whistleblower, has now spoken out in an interview with 60 Minutes.
Haugen said that he had seen many social networks, and Facebook was significantly worse than any I'd seen before. 60 Minutes interviewed Haugen. "Facebook has repeatedly shown that it prefers safety over profit," Haugen said.
Haugen joined Facebook in 2019 to work on democracy and misinformation, as well as counterespionage. According to her personal website and Twitter account, she and her team created. She was a Facebook product manager before she left in May.
John Tye, Whistleblower Aid founder, was first to receive "tens of thousand" pages of internal Facebook documents. He requested legal protection and assistance in releasing the information. This trove contained internal company research, slide decks and cover letters, as well as other documents. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also received a whistleblower complaint. She accused Facebook of internal actions that were not consistent with its public statements.
Haugen, in her SEC complaint, compared Facebook's internal research to documents and public statements made by Zuckerberg and other executives. She stated that Facebook was responsible for election misinformation and the January 6th US Capitol Insurrection.
In a cover letter, she stated that Facebook had publicized its efforts to combat misinformation. Facebook knew that its platforms and algorithms promoted harmful content and failed to implement any internal recommendations or long-lasting countermeasures.
She noted that the site allows divisive content as it encourages engagement. According to Haugen, 60 Minutes' own research shows that hateful content, divisive and polarizing content is more likely to incite anger than other emotions. 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.
She was also in touch with SEC's whistleblower department, which usually provides protections to corporate tipters. She and her legal team also contacted Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn (R). She spoke with lawmakers in France, Britain and the European Parliament.
Facebook, which has been struggling to stop leaks, preemptively pushed back against the 60 Minutes interview and called the accusations "misleading". CNN's VP for global affairs and policy Nick Clegg said that Facebook was "the good, bad and ugly of humanity" and that it was trying "to mitigate the bad, reduce its impact and amplify the good." Clegg said that January 6th was too important to be blamed on social media.
Lena Pietsch, a spokesperson for Facebook, stated that the segment also ignores the substantial investments we make to protect our users on our platform... To suggest we encourage bad content or do nothing is simply not true." It also denied any claims that it was misleading regulators or the public. "We stand behind our public statements and are available to answer any questions regulators might have about our work."
Haugen stated that she wanted to fix Facebook and not have it removed. In the video, she stated that transparency and governance are key to moving forward. It's not about breaking down Facebook. Haugen will testify before Congress on Tuesday, December 5, about Facebook's impact upon young users.
