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Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who has turned whistleblower, in her testimony before Congress has presented a disturbing picture of the social-media giant: It puts “astronomical profits before people.” If misinformation is spreading and if people, even children, are getting hooked to FB, these are not examples of mere human weakness, but FB has been deliberately designed to do so, she said, based on a thousands of documents of internal research she had leaked to media. What Haugen wants is: (a) FB should admit its mistakes and take corrective measures, and (b) Congress must intervene with new regulations. Fortunately, there’s bipartisan concern, and the Administration is serious about reining in the Big Tech.
Highlights
* Facebook is aware that it’s harming people: “They are aware of the side effects of the choices they have made around amplification. They know that algorithmic-based rankings, or engagement-based rankings, keeps you on their sites longer. You have longer sessions, you show up more often, and that makes them more money.”
* It knows the whistleblower knows: The firm messaged lawmakers that Haugen had no expertise in the areas she was talking about – but she has herself admitted as much. She is only sharing internal research. If they had answers to the questions raised by her, their tactics would’ve been different.
* Haugen has hinted she has more documents from FB’s own research.
* She is not going for killing the firm and creating a Frankenstein. She’s calling for small changes that’d make big difference. “A lot of the changes that I’m talking about are not going to make Facebook an unprofitable company, it just won’t be a ludicrously profitable company like it is today … One could reason a kinder, friendlier, more collaborative Facebook might actually have more users five years from now, so it’s in everyone’s interest.”
* Both Democrats and Republicans are on the same page. There’ve been efforts at regulation before but there’s hope Haugen’s testimony could prove to be the catalyst for change finally. Going by the questions they posed, lawmakers themselves are more knowledgeable about tech now.
Gist:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/10/05/facebook-senate-hearing-frances-haugen/
Takeaways:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/technology/what-happened-at-facebook-whistleblower-hearing.html
https://apnews.com/article/facebook-frances-haugen-congress-testimony-af86188337d25b179153b973754b71a4
Commentary:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/opinion/facebook-blackout-2021.html