The whistelblower behind the massive leak of Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal said on 60 Minutes that Facebook embraced algorithms that amplify hate speech. Frances Haugen revealed more of the inner workings of the social media giant, saying that Facebook is “paying for its profits with our safety.”
Read: How Icasa may be able to slash mobile data prices
Haugen resigned from her position at Facebook as a product manager of the Civic Integrity group, after it was decided that the group was going to be dissolved. “I don’t trust that they’re willing to invest what actually needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous,” she said.
She then decided to leak a cache of internal research to the Securities and Exchange Commission, hoping that more regulation would be forced upon the company. She also noted that she has seen comparable issues at other companies she has worked, like Google and Pinterest, but that “it was substantially worse at Facebook” due to the company’s desire to put its profits over the welfare of its users.
“There was conflict… between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” Haugen said, “and Facebook chose over and over again to optimize for its own interests — like making more money.”
The Wall Street Journal investigation was published in September, using Haugen’s documents as an integral source, under the name “The Facebook Files.” One report alleged that Facebook has had research proving that Instagram harmed teenage girls for a substantial amount of time. Facebook tried to subvert the narrative in a blog post.
Haugen believes that social networks should be more broadly regulated, not detailing how that regulation would look. She is now scheduled to appear before a Senate Commerce panel this week, tasked with understanding the inner workings of these tech giants in an effort to look at how these regulations could be structured and implemented.
