Whistleblower says FB put profit before reining in hate speech
SUBSCRIBE
JOBS
Go Back
3 years ago 06:05:36am Television

Whistleblower says FB put profit before reining in hate speech

New Delhi, 11-November-2021, By IBW Team

FB plans removal of ad targeting option for sensitive topics

A Facebook Inc. whistleblower on Sunday accused the social media giant of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation, and said her lawyers have filed at least eight complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on the civic misinformation team at Facebook, appeared on Sunday on the CBS television program ‘60 Minutes’ revealing her identity as the whistleblower who provided the documents that underpinned a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram’s harm to teen girls, Reuters reported.

Facebook has been under fire after the  Journal published a series of stories based on Facebook internal presentations and emails that showed the social media company contributed to increased polarization online when it made changes to its content algorithm, failed to take steps to reduce vaccine hesitancy and was aware that Instagram harmed the mental health of teenage girls.

Haugen will testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday in a hearing titled “Protecting Kids Online”, about the company’s research into Instagram’s effect on young users.

“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” she said during the interview, “And Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests like making more money.”

Haugen, who previously worked at Google and Pinterest, said Facebook has lied to the public about the progress it made to clamp down on hate speech and misinformation on its platform.

She added that Facebook was used to help organize the Capitol riot on January 6, after the company turned off safety systems following the US presidential elections.

While she believed no one at Facebook was “malevolent,” she said the company had misaligned incentives.

Facebook published a statement disputing the points that Haugen made after the televised interview.

“We continue to make significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content,” said Facebook spokesperson Lena Pietsch, “To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true.”

Ahead of the ‘60 Minutes’ interview, Facebook Vice-President of global affairs Nick Clegg said on CNN it was “ludicrous” to assert that Jan. 6 occurred because of social media.

On Sunday, Haugen’s attorney John Tye, founder of legal nonprofit Whistleblower Aid, confirmed a New York Times report that some of the internal documents have been shared with attorneys general from several states including California, Vermont and Tennessee.

Tye said the complaints were filed to the SEC on the basis that as a publicly traded company, Facebook is required to not lie to its investors, or even withhold material information.

The complaints compare Facebook’s internal research with its public statements on the issues it researched, according to the ‘60 Minutes’ interview.

Whistleblower Aid, which is representing Haugen pro-bono, has also launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 for her legal costs.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Our Events

  • img
    SatCab Symposium

    SatCab symposium organized by Aavishkar Media Group is an annual event. It's a well-informed event where we have a panel discussion on the current affairs and future forecasting on our industry.

  • img
    BCS
    Ratna Awards

    BCS Ratna Award organized by Aavishkar Media Group is an annual event. In this award function, a community of our industry is honored by receiving the award for the contribution of their work.

  • img
    Chetna Yatra

    Chetna Yatra organized by Aavishkar Media Group is an annual event. Held by Dr. AK Rastogi, Chairman of Aavishkar Media Group. Pilgrimage India in his car for connecting the people of our industry.

  • img
    Imaan India Sammaan

    Imaan India Samman is an event mobilized by Aavishkar Media Group, which was launched in 2012. Giving the award to the NGOs for giving their contribution to society.

Youtube Videos