Whistleblower urges regulation to tackle Facebook 'crisis'

US Senators Marsha Blackburn (L) and Richard Blumenthal took part in a hearing where former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen (C) testified on October 5, 2021, in Washington, DC

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on October 5, 2021, in Washington, DC

A Facebook whistleblower told US lawmakers Tuesday that the social media giant fuels division, harms children and urgently needs to be regulated, drawing pledges Congress would take up long-delayed action.

The testimony by ex-employee Frances Haugen has fueled one of Facebook's most serious crises yet, and prompted a denial from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who said in a post on his account that her claim the company prioritizes profit over safety was "just not true."

"I believe that Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy," Haugen told a Senate panel.

In her testimony, she emphasized the power held by a service that is tightly woven into the daily lives of billions of users.

"There are going to be women walking around this planet in 60 years with brittle bones because of the choices that Facebook made around emphasizing profit today," she said, referring to the impact of eating disorders.

"We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don't know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction," he said.

And he reiterated his own calls, which date back years, for the industry regulations to be updated, repeating Facebook's stance Congress was the "right body" to do that.

"Here's my message for Mark Zuckerberg. Your time of invading our privacy, promoting toxic content and preying on children and teens is over," said Senator Ed Markey. 

Senator Amy Klobuchar said she sees the whistleblower disclosures as the long-needed push to get Congress moving.

US lawmakers for years have threatened to regulate social media platforms to address criticisms that the tech giants trample on privacy, provide a megaphone for dangerous misinformation and damage young people's well-being.

Facebook has pushed back hard against the Journal stories underpinned by the voluminous internal studies that Haugen leaked, and even before Zuckerberg's post the company fiercely objected to her testimony on Tuesday.

"We don't agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about," said the statement from Lena Pietsch, director of policy communications.

"A lot of the changes I'm talking about are not going to make Facebook an unprofitable company," she said. "It just won't be a ludicrously profitable company like it is today."

Haugen noted that she believed Facebook was not intrinsically bad, but rather needed external intervention to guide it away from a place that breeds toxicity.

"It's possible, but far from assured, that today's hearing will mark a real inflection point," said Paul Barrett, deputy director of New York University's Stern Center for Business and Human Rights.

bur-st/jh

...