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A former Facebook employee turned whistleblower testified before a Senate commerce subcommittee on Tuesday, alleging blatant contempt on the part of Facebook executives when they learned their platform could have adverse effects on democracies overseas and children’s mental health.
“Facebook has not won our blind faith,” former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower Frances Haugen said in her opening statement to lawmakers. “There is a pattern of behavior that I have seen [at] Facebook: Facebook chooses to prioritize its profits over people.
“You can declare moral bankruptcy, and we can find a solution [to] these things together because we solve problems together, ”Haugen said.
Minutes after her testimony, Facebook released a statement attempting to discredit Haugen, stating that she had worked for the company “for less than two years, had no direct reports, had never attended a meeting of decision point with C-level executives – and has testified more than six times not to work on the subject in question. “
Although senators from both parties appeared to support his calls to regulate Facebook, how and when that could happen was unclear.
Here are some key points to remember:
Legislator: Facebook facing its “big tobacco moment” by targeting children
One of the points in question: Haugen described how she said the two platforms, Facebook and Instagram, are targeting children as potential users.
“Facebook understands that if they are to continue to grow, they have to find new users. They have to make sure that the next generation is just as engaged with Instagram as the current generation is, and how they will be doing it, by doing so. ensuring that children establish habits before having good self-regulation, ”said Hagen.
“They know kids bring their parents online – so they understand the value of young users to Facebook’s long-term success,” she added.
With several comparisons to the tobacco industry, the majority of Haugen’s testimonials focused on the negative consequences once she said children became addicted to Facebook’s platforms.
Notably, around 2019, Facebook started using a revamped algorithm called “Downstream MSI,” which it said made a post more likely to appear in a user’s News Feed if the algorithm calculated that people were likely to share or comment on it as it was transmitted. chain of shares.
This method has led some people, including children, to content promoting eating disorders, misinformation and hate messages, according to Haugen and what she said was in internal documents from the company which she submitted to the committee after having disclosed them to numerous media.
“Facebook Knows Its Instagram Engagement Rankings Can Lead Kids to Very Small Topics Like Healthy Recipes […] to anorexic content over a very short period of time, “said Haugen.” Facebook knows that they lead young users to anorexic content. “
Haugen asserted that children are a target demographic for Facebook, referring to the company’s recent “Instagram Kids” project. The company put the project on hold after it went to public scrutiny.
“I would be genuinely surprised if they didn’t continue working on Instagram’s kids,” Haugen speculated, adding that Facebook intends “to ensure that the next generation is just as engaged with Instagram as the generation. current, and the way it will., by ensuring that children establish habits before they have good self-regulation. “
Whistleblower: “Buck stops with Mark”
Haugen detailed numerous incidents in which she said Facebook executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were made directly aware of their platforms’ potentially negative influence on children’s mental health.
At one point, Zuckerberg and other executives received “Project Daisy,” a strategy that removed likes from public Instagram posts. Studies have proven the project ineffective, but Zuckerberg and others have gone ahead to appease regulators and journalists, according to Haugen.
“It would give us positive points from the audience,” Haugen recalled. “This kind of duplicity is why we need to have more transparency and why, if we are to have a system consistent with democracy, we need to have public oversight of Congress.”
Zuckerberg, she said, has apparently also been offered options to remove the MSI algorithm in the case of Myanmar, a country where Facebook has reportedly been used to incite violence and spread hate speech.
“Mark was offered these options and chose not to remove the downstream MSI in April 2020,” Haugen told the subcommittee.
When asked why Facebook wouldn’t get rid of downstream MSI as data shows the system is spreading hate speech, disinformation and violent content, Haugen claimed employee bonuses are still currently linked to the system.
Lena Pietsch, director of political communications at Facebook, released a statement following testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen trying to discredit her knowledge of the business, while calling for new internet regulations.
“It’s time to start creating standard rules for the Internet,” Pietsch said in a statement. “It’s been 25 years since Internet rules were updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to lawmakers, it’s time for Congress to act.”
Lawmakers on the two-party panel, operating in a normally divided Washington, were united in calling on Zuckerberg and other Facebook officials to testify in Congress, as Haugen had done. Zuckerburg has been silent on Haugen’s claims for days, and several senators noted that the billionaire’s recent social media posts got him going with his wife.
Lawmakers signal more hearings, oversight ahead
Haugen, while describing what she called Facebook’s flaws, offered several solutions. She said Facebook could be forced to do things like forcing a user to click on a link before sharing it, platforms like Twitter which have found this to significantly reduce misinformation, she said.
She also called for oversight of advertising when it comes to children – a proposal senators have appeared on board to explore as they possibly pursue Facebook regulation.
“I strongly encourage banning advertising targeted to children,” Haugen said. “And we need to have oversight in terms of [how] the algorithms will probably always learn the interests of the children and match the ads to those children. “
“Facebook today [makes] about $ 40 billion in profit per year, “she said at another point.” A lot of the changes I’m talking about won’t make Facebook an unprofitable business – it just won’t be a ridiculously profitable business like this is today. “
After Haugen raised concerns about Facebook’s counterterrorism resources and teams meant to counter foreign influence – signaling that she was speaking with another congressional committee on this issue – lawmakers on the subcommittee opened the door to another hearing.
“I think Facebook’s continued understaffing in counterintelligence, information operations, and counterterrorism teams is a national security issue, and I’m telling other parts of Congress about it. “said Haugen.
Sen. Dan, Sullivan, R-Alaska continued, “So you’re basically saying that the platform, whether Facebook knows it or not, is being used by some of our opponents in a way that helps push and promote. their interests. at the expense of America? “
“Yes,” she replied. “Facebook is very aware that this is happening on the platform, and I think the fact that Congress is not receiving a report on the exact number of people working on these things internally is unacceptable because you have the right to protect the American people. .”
ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki, Mary Kathryn Burke and Libby Cathey contributed to this report.
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