Facebook whistleblower - Haugen called ‘21st century hero’ by Senate as Zuckerberg told toxic time is up
Frances Haugen urges government to regulate social media company
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has testified before a Senate hearing, urging the government to regulate the social media company.
In a rare moment of unity seldom seen in Congress, Ms Haugen responded to in-depth questions from lawmakers from both parties concerning the impact of social media on children, concerns about national security, and what her specific recommendations are for reforming the sector.
The testimony adds to Ms Haugen’s interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, said that the social network repeatedly prioritised “growth over safety” and is “tearing our societies apart”.
Facebook’s stock plummeted on Monday in the aftermath of Ms Haugen’s interview and as its companies experienced an extended service outage.
It was the worst session performance for the company in nearly a year with the share price falling 4.9 per cent – the worst decline since the five per cent drop recorded on 9 November 2020.
According to her written testimony, which is to be heard by the Senate Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday, Ms Haugen will compare the social media giant’s practices to those in the tobacco and motoring industries.
“When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action,” Ms Haugen said in her written testimony. “I implore you to do the same here.”
Earlier this year, Ms Haugen left Facebook, where she worked as a member of its misinformation team. Prior to leaving her role, she copied a series of internal memos and documents that have been shared by The Wall Street Journal over the past three weeks.
“No one truly understands the destructive choices made by Facebook except Facebook.”
“Facebook’s closed design means it has no real oversight… Facebook hides behind walls that keep researchers and regulators from understanding the true dynamics of their system.”
“Left alone, Facebook will continue to make choices that go against the common good.”
“If there’s one thing I hope everyone takes away from these disclosures, it’s that Facebook can change but is clearly not going to do so on its own. My fear is without action, the divisive and extremist behaviors we see today are only the beginning.”
Senator Blumenthal acknowledges the great risk that Ms Haugen has taken in coming forward.
“We will do anything and everything to stop any retaliation against you.”
Earlier Ms Haugen said: “I came forward, at great personal risk, because I believe we still have time to act. But we must act now. I am asking you, our elected representatives, to act.”
‘Opening chapters of a story so terrifying no one wants to read the end of it'
On the role of Mark Zuckerberg
Says Ms Haugen: “Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares for Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled.”
She adds: “There’s no one currently holding him accountable but himself.”
Apparently, Mr Zuckerberg is sailing today. This has been mentioned three times.
Klobuchar calls out tech lobbyists
Senator Amy Klobuchar has called out the lack of any update to privacy laws blaming lobbyists hired by tech companies.
“We have not done anything to update our privacy laws in this country our federal privacy laws, nothing, zilch, in any major way. Why? Because there are lobbyists around every single corner of this building that have been hired by the tech industry. We have done nothing when it comes to making the algorithms more transparent ... because Facebook and the other tech companies are throwing a bunch of money around this town, and people are listening to them”.
Facebook whistleblower says company has hid information about dangers of its platforms from public
The former Facebook employee who told 60 Minutes over the weekend that Facebook’s own internal research says it is causing conflicts and exacerbating divisions across the world urged Congress to act during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
‘We now know the truth about Facebook’s destructive impact’, whistleblower says
Facebook whistleblower says company has hid information about dangers of its platforms from public
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments