The Facebook logo is shown on a mobile phone in a photo taken on December 2, 2019. Reuters / Johanna Geron
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (Reuters) – Former Facebook (FBO) employee and whistleblower Francis Hagen on Tuesday called on the US Congress to organize a social media giant, which he likened to a tobacco company. Intends to deny that smoking has harmed health for decades. According to a testimony prepared by Reuters.
“The government took action when we realized that the tobacco companies were covering up the damage. When we realized that cars were safer than seat belts, the government took action.” “I urge you to do the same here.”
Hagen will tell the panel that Facebook executives regularly choose to profit from user safety.
“The company’s leadership knows how to secure Facebook and Instagram and will not make the necessary changes because they have made their huge profits public. Congress action is needed.” “As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is not accountable to anyone.
Hagen, who worked as a product manager on Facebook’s Citizen Misinformation team, appeared on the CBS television program “60 Minutes” on Sunday. She identified herself as a whistleblower who provided documents used in the Wall Street Journal’s investigation and a hearing on the harm to teenage girls on the Senate’s Instagram. Read more
White House spokeswoman Jane Sackie said Hagen’s comments on “60 Minutes” were “the latest in a series of revelations about social media platforms that make it clear that self-regulation is not working.”
Facebook did not respond to a request for comment.
Hagen added: “Facebook’s closed design means it has no oversight – even from its own monitoring board, which is as blind as the public.”
He added that this makes it impossible for regulators to act as checks.
“Failure to look at Facebook’s original systems and verify that Facebook’s systems work as they say, as the Department of Transportation sees cars driving on the highway,” she testified. Regulates. ” “Imagine if a regulator couldn’t get into a car, pump its wheels, do a car crash test, or even know that there were seat belts.”
The journal’s stories, based on Facebook’s internal presentations and emails, show that the company increased its online polarization when it changed its content algorithm. Failed to take steps to reduce vaccine reluctance and was aware that Instagram harms the mental health of teenage girls.
Hagen said Facebook has done little to prevent its platform from being used by people who plan violence.
“The result has been a system that increases distribution,
Extremism, and polarization – and weakening societies around the world. In some cases, this dangerous online conversation leads to actual violence that harms people and even kills.
Facebook was used by the masterminds of the Myanmar massacre and supporters of then-President Donald Trump in the US capital on January 6, determined to toss the 2020 election results.
He said that due to the emphasis on Facebook’s profit, it was doing little to protect young girls from self-loathing, especially through Instagram.
David Shepard’s Reporting, Additional Reporting by Diane Bartz, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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