Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
CNN reported that Sophie Zhang, a former employee of Facebook, is available to testify in front of Congress.
Zhang stated that she had shared documents about "potential criminal offenses" with US law enforcement.
After being fired in 2020, Zhang wrote a 7,800 word memo in which she publicly criticised Facebook.
Sophie Zhang, an ex-Facebook data scientist, said that she was willing to testify before Congress.
Zhang also tweeted on Sunday that she had provided "detailed documentation" to a US law enforcement agency regarding possible criminal violations.
CNN asked Zhang if she knew which agency she had given documents to. CNN reached out to the FBI spokesperson for clarification.
Zhang tweeted Monday, linking to her CNN interview, that she would testify if Congress asks.
CNN spoke with Zhang about the encouragement she received from the apparent bipartisan support to take action against Facebook. This was after Frances Haugen (another whistleblower for Facebook) testified at a congressional hearing in October 5th regarding children's safety on Instagram and Facebook.
Zhang was fired by Facebook in August 2020. However, she had posted a 7,800 word memo explaining how she believes the company allowed authoritarian regimes to manipulate its platform.
Zhang wrote that she had "blood on her hands" in a memo obtained by BuzzFeed. Zhang stated that she was being fired because of "poor performance."
Zhang posted the memo to her internal website. In July, she informed MIT Technology Review that Facebook had made a complaint about her website's hosting server. Her website was then taken offline.
A Facebook spokesperson stated that they have invested $13B in security and safety of their platform. They also have 40,000 people reviewing content in 50 languages and working in 20 locations around the globe to support the community. Since 2017, we have taken down more than 150 networks that sought to manipulate public discussion. They originate in more than 50 countries and are mainly based outside the US. Our track record shows us that we are just as intense in our efforts to combat abuse abroad as we are here in the US.
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"As a platform that is used by many people around the globe, we know people are passionate about our products. This means there's scrutiny and responsibility. We believe it is crucial that we are held accountable, but we also believe it's important that context be added about the work of different teams and respond to mischaracterizations of the work of thousands at Facebook," the spokesperson said.
Haugen testified in October 5th that Facebook had under-resourced its teams and tools for looking for abuse in other languages than English.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released a statement last Wednesday claiming that Haugen's description of the company was "false".
Business Insider has the original article.
