Facebook is facing a historic crisis.
Revelations brought to light from whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former data scientist at Facebook, has led to what may …
Facebook is facing a historic crisis. Revelations brought to light from whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former data scientist at Facebook, has led to what may be the most threatening scandal in the company’s history. The pressure was turned up on Tuesday, when Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee. She provided a clear and detailed glimpse inside the notoriously secretive tech giant. She said Facebook harms children, sows division and undermines democracy in pursuit of breakneck growth and «astronomical profits.» Past controversies over Facebook’s role in Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election and the social network’s lax handling of user data in the Cambridge Analytica case were crises that rocked the company and spurred internal reform. But the fury that Haugen’s revelations have set off is different. Here are four reasons why. Haugen worked at Facebook for nearly two years after stints at Google, Yelp and Pinterest. At Facebook, she studied how the social network’s algorithm amplified misinformation and was exploited by foreign adversaries. Haugen told Congress that Facebook consistently chose to maximize its growth rather than implement safeguards on its platforms, just as it hid from the public and government officials internal research that illuminated the harms of Facebook products. «The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats, and more combat. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people,» Haugen testified. Before Haugen left the social network, she copied thousands of pages of confidential documents and shared them with lawmakers, regulators and the Wall Street Journal, which published a series of reports called the Facebook Files. «During my time at Facebook, I came to realize a devastating truth: almost no one outside of Facebook knows what happens inside Facebook,» Haugen told Congress. «The company intentionally hides vital information from the public, from the U.S. government, and from governments around the world.» Haugen is not the first ex-Facebook employee who has raised concerns about the world’s largest social network. But two things distinguish her: She is a compelling witness, speaking with conviction, specificity and depth. And she came armed with receipts to buttress her account — the thousands of pages of company documents that lay bare exactly what Facebook knew about its products. Facebook executive Monika Bickert told NPR’s Morning Edition that the company does not place profits over safety, citing the social network’s halting of political ads before the November presidential election.
