Facebook’s anger management: Both sides embrace whistleblower in heated hearing

Things are going so horribly wrong for Facebook that its tech meltdown almost provided a respite except it made everyone even angrier.

I fleetingly fantasized about whether Mark Zuckerberg was so fed up with the growing criticism that he unplugged to remind the world how essential his creation is. Blaming him on a “bad configuration change” is so… vague.

The campaign masterfully orchestrated by whistleblower Frances Haugen, which culminated in Tuesday’s Senate hearing, punctured another tire in Facebook’s tank, already burned and dented by hostile fire.

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After years of blunders and blunders, Zuckerberg, who is no longer the Harvard anti-hero, has decided to stop apologizing. But the company’s defense is severely compromised by its own internal documents, which Haugen’s thousands have disclosed to the Wall Street Journal.

Then she emerged, ready for the camera, revealing her identity on “60 Minutes,” adding a personal element to her crusade against the company she left.

While Facebook is not responsible for all the ills on the planet, it has in many ways become its worst enemy, and its stock has fallen 13% in recent weeks. Yet with 3.5 billion users worldwide – and that includes Instagram and WhatsApp – this juggernaut is so aggressive it’s practically begging for government regulation.

From authorizing Russian disinformation in 2016 to fueling hate speech today, from tolerance to the ban and then to the ban on negationism, the company has gone from crisis to crisis. Conservatives see undeniable evidence of liberal bias in the exclusion of Donald Trump. Liberals are seeing a greedy company crush its competitors, as evidenced by a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit.

And Haugen’s documents have opened up a whole new front by confirming that authorities know Instagram causes depression and body image issues in many teenage girls, but refuses to do anything about it.

When Haugen said on Tuesday that Facebook’s products “hurt children, stir up division, weaken our democracy” and “put their huge profits before people,” not to mention “hiding in the shadows,” she had many supporting information.

The Journal series documented how Facebook treats VIPs more leniently and how an algorithm spread angry and toxic messages throughout the news feed, increasing the company’s traffic.

Haugen, who is now the, uh, face of the opposition, said Facebook could use its immense resources “to destroy me.” Democratic chairman of the committee, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, quickly thanked her for taking the risk, and lashed out at the company “sowing hatred” and “stoking the flames of division.”

Ranking Republican Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee berated the company for allowing underage users, noting that 600,000 children under the age of 13 who “shouldn’t be there in the first place” have had their accounts deleted during of the last three months.

There has been back and forth, with scathing criticism from both sides of the stage. It was a rare moment of bipartisan unity: everyone hated Facebook.

“You are an American hero of the 21st century,” exclaimed Democrat Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

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Haugen says 10-15% of underage children may be on Facebook or Instagram and executives are well aware of that, even if some children are lying.

In a devastating indictment, she told Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota that “Facebook knows they drive young users to anorexia content.”

Haugen is pushing for congressional action and has found a receptive audience. Klobuchar, Democratic presidential candidate last year, said: “The time has come to act, and I think you are the catalyst for action.”

“We have some things we can do here,” agreed Republican John Thune of South Dakota.

Haugen, posed and deeply informed, was able to shed light on the darkest corners of the social network. She suggested lifting some of the legal immunity that protects social media companies, especially when it comes to algorithms, so that computers don’t control our content.

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The Washington Post describes Facebook’s strategic shift: “Gone is the familiar script in which CEO Mark Zuckerberg issues a formal apology – sometimes in lengthy blogs on his personal Facebook page or on a video broadcast live to a congressional audience – then takes responsibility and promises change.

“In its place, the company has deployed a roster of executives to mount a public defense,” while “quibbling with the details” of Haugen’s allegations. Nick Clegg, the former British Deputy Prime Minister and now Vice President of Facebook, is leading the charge. But as Haugen said of the CEO of the company: “The responsibility ends with Mark. “

Frances Haugen is now the Daniel Ellsberg of digital leaks. But as the Pentagon Papers delved into the Vietnam War, Facebook’s findings deal with the here and now – and the next chapter of the story has yet to be written.