[ad_1]
Data scientist Frances Haugen secretly copied tens of thousands of internal Facebook search pages while working for the company, and turned them over to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress. significant progress against hatred, violence. These are some of the revelations from him interview with Scott Pelley.
Whistleblower: The version of Facebook that exists today is “tearing our societies apart”
Haugen, who worked for companies like Google and Pinterest for 15 years, says Facebook was much worse than anything she had seen before.
“What I saw on Facebook over and over was that there was a conflict of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” Haugen said. “And Facebook, time and time again, has chosen to optimize for its own interests, like making more money.”
Whistleblower: Facebook’s disbanded department focused on disinformation and elections after 2020 vote
Haugen told 60 Minutes that weeks after the 2020 election, Facebook disbanded a department called “Civic Integrity” that was working on election risks, including disinformation.
Like, they basically said, ‘Oh well, we survived the election. There were no riots. We can get rid of civic integrity now, ”Haugen said. “Fast forward a few months, we had the insurgency. And when they got rid of civic integrity, that was the moment I was like, ‘I don’t believe they’re ready to invest this. that needs to be invested to prevent Facebook from being dangerous. ‘”
Whistleblower: Facebook urges publishers to post inflammatory content
Haugen said Facebook’s algorithm optimizes content that drives engagement. This has caused publishers to “realize that if they produce more content that is angry, divides, and polarizes, they’ll get more views,” in his words.
“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be more secure, people will spend less time on the site, they will click less ads, they will earn less money,” Haugen added.
Whistleblower: Facebook employees raged against leadership after the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill
After the 2020 election, Facebook was used by some to help coordinate the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol. Federal prosecutors cited Facebook posts as evidence against the insurgents.
After the attack, Facebook employees raged on an internal bulletin board cited by Haugen. One employee wrote: “… haven’t we had enough time to figure out how to handle speech without allowing violence? “
Report: European political parties have complained that Facebook is forcing them to take more extreme political positions
A 2019 internal report seen by Haugen said that major European political parties, “… believe that the algorithm change has forced them to negatively bias their communications on Facebook … leading them to take more extreme political positions. “
“You are forcing us to take positions that we don’t like, that we know are bad for society,” Haugen said, paraphrasing what political parties told Facebook researchers in that report. “We know that if we don’t take these positions, we won’t win in the social media market.”
Whistleblower: Facebook research shows Instagram is worse for teens than other social media
Facebook’s prejudice, Haugen said, also extends to Facebook’s Instagram app. An internal study referenced by Haugen in her 60-minute interview said 13.5% of teenage girls said Instagram made suicidal thoughts worse. And 17% of teenage girls said in the study that Instagram makes eating disorders worse.
“As these young women start consuming this eating disorder content, they become more and more depressed,” Frances Haugen told 60 Minutes. “And that actually makes them use the app more. And so, they find themselves in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more.”
[ad_2]
Source link