Whistleblower Reveals Illicit Activity Going On At Facebook

According to the former Facebook product manager for civic disinformation, Frances Haugen, Facebook routinely prioritizes its own profitability over the health and safety of its users, which is primarily due to the algorithms' design, which directs users toward high-engagement content that may be damaging in some circumstances.

Though she stopped short of accusing senior executives of designing damaging goods on purpose, she claimed that in the end, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was accountable for his company's influence.

In an interview aired this weekend on CBS' "60 Minutes," Haugen said the problems she witnessed at Facebook were worse than everywhere else she'd worked, including Google, Yelp, and Pinterest.

However, Mark Zuckerberg felt no hesitation in defending Facebook, stating that “the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and wellbeing. That’s just not true,”. He followed up with the following: “The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content.”

Haugen's evidence, as well as remarks made by US senators throughout the session, raised doubts about Facebook's reliability. "Facebook hasn't earned the right to put blind faith in them," Haugen added.

Zuckerberg began his response with a reference to the company's platform outage on Monday when the company's services – including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – were unavailable for over six hours. Facebook's networks, including Instagram and WhatsApp, have 3.5 billion monthly active users. Which made a favorable segway to the following words: "What matters more than how many people move to other services or how much money we lose in an outage like this is what it means for the people who rely on our services to connect with loved ones, operate their companies, or support their communities," he added.

Bibliography

Feiner, L. (2021, October 5). Facebook whistleblower: The company knows it’s harming people and the buck stops with Zuckerberg. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/05/facebook-whistleblower-testifies-before-senate-committee.html

Milmo, D. (2021, October 6). Mark Zuckerberg hits back at Facebook whistleblower claims. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/06/mark-zuckerberg-hits-back-at-facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-claims