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POLITICO

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Alexandra S. Levine and Claire Rafford on politico.com on October 5, 2021.
Whistle-blower Frances Haugen came to the Senate on Tuesday with a message about Facebook and its leaders: don't trust them.
The former project manager whose revelations have shaken the world's largest social network accused Mark Zuckerberg and his company of knowingly pushing products that harm children and young adults in a pursuit of endlessly growing profits.
She and a series of lawmakers of both parties likened Facebook's behaviour to that of the tobacco industry – which persisted for decades in denying that cigarettes were addictive and deadly.

Haugen's other message: Washington must act.
“I am here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy,” Haugen said, two days after going public in a 60 Minutes interview.
“The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people. Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help.”
The Senate hearing comes three weeks after The Wall Street Journal began publishing stories based on troves of documents gathered by Haugen, who has also provided information to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Facebook puts Instagram for kids on hold after outcry
The disclosures included the fact that researchers at Instagram, which Facebook owns, knew their app was worsening teenagers‘ body images and mental health, even as the company publicly downplayed these effects.
During her nearly two years with the company, Haugen was a product manager on Facebook's Civic Integrity team, where she worked to prevent election interference and misinformation. She resigned from Facebook in April and left the company officially in May, taking thousands of pages of internal documents.
Facebook has contended that news coverage of Haugen's disclosures mischaracterises the company's internal research, and company spokesman Andy Stone argued Tuesday that the whistle-blower is not an expert in one of the main topics she's testifying about.
“Just pointing out the fact that @FrancesHaugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook,” Stone tweeted.


Here are some of the key moments from Haugen’s testimony before the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee:
Whistle-blower: 'Facebook has not earned our trust'
Haugen said the “crisis” at Facebook calls for action by Washington.
And she urged lawmakers to not trust public assurances from Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives.
“Facebook wants to trick you into thinking that privacy protections or changes to Section 230 will be sufficient,” Haugen said, referring to the legal liability shield that protects major tech companies from many lawsuits over content decisions.
“While important, these will not get to the core of the issue – which is that no one truly understands the destructive choices made by Facebook except Facebook. We can afford nothing less than full transparency.”
‘We’re logging out’: why civil rights groups want you to get off Facebook
Blumenthal: 'Facebook and big tech are facing a big tobacco moment'
Subcommittee Chair Richard Blumenthal drew on what he called a “striking” parallel between Facebook and big tobacco companies, saying that the social media company is facing “a moment of reckoning”.
“They valued their profit more than the pain that they caused to children and their families,” he said.
He also praised Haugen in for what he called her courage and strength in courage in coming forward.
“You have a compelling, credible voice, which we've heard already, but you are not here alone,” he said. “You're armed with documents and evidence. And you speak volumes as they do about how Facebook has put profits ahead of people.”
Senator Ed Markey echoed that sentiment, telling Haugen: “You are a 21st century American hero.”

Blumenthal demands that Zuckerberg testify
Blumenthal also demanded that Zuckerberg testify before Congress about the internal research Haugen has made public.
“You need to explain to Frances Haugen, to us, to the world, and to the parents of America what you are doing and why you did it,” said Blumenthal, who described the CEO’s strategy as “no apologies, no admission, no action, nothing to see here”.
“Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today, and yet rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr Zuckerberg is going sailing,” the senator said in his opening statements. (Zuckerberg had posted footage of a sailing jaunt over the weekend.)
The full committee's top Republican, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said in an interview outside the hearing room that he agrees that Zuckerberg should testify. A “bipartisan consensus” exists on the committee on that point, he said.
Facebook apologises after AI labels video with black men ‘about primates’
Blumenthal also pushed Haugen on whether Zuckerberg had the final say on the company's decision last week to postpone plans for a kid-version of Instagram – a question that Facebook's global head of safety dodged at a Senate hearing last week.
“There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled” as Facebook is by Zuckerberg, Haugen said, “and in the end, the buck stops with Mark.”
Blackburn: Facebook has ‘gotten away with abusing consumers for far too long’.
The subcommittee's top Republican, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, argued said Facebook has “gotten away with abusing consumers for far too long.”
The senator specifically pointed to Facebook’s interest in the preteen market, stating that the company was “running out of teens to add to Instagram” and “studying younger and younger kids so they can market to them”.

“While Facebook says that kids below 13 are not allowed on Facebook or Instagram, we know that they are there – Facebook said they deleted 600,000 accounts recently from kids under 13. How do you get that many underage accounts if you aren’t turning a blind eye to them in the first place?” Blackburn added.
Blackburn also said Facebook “turns a blind eye towards blatant human exploitation taking place on its platform”, like “trafficking, forced labour, cartels” – echoing another one of Haugen’s allegation, that Facebook’s responses to such behaviour on the platform was weak.
“By shining a light on Mr Zuckerberg and company’s conduct, we will help hold them accountable.”
Emily Birnbaum contributed to this report.
Read Politico’s story.


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Facebook

Whistle-blower to US Senate: don’t trust Facebook

Frances Haugen, Facebook whistle-blower, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: Bloomberg

IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR SUMOFUS - SumOfUs erected a seven-foot visual protest outside the US Capitol depicting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg surfing on a wave of cash, while young women surround him appearing to be suffering Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021, in Washington. On Thursday, members of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security met to discuss the negative impact social media is having on children. (Eric Kayne/AP Images for SumofUS)

epa09507423 (L-R) Subcommittee ranking member Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and subcommittee chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) listen to testimony from former Facebook employee Frances Haugen (C) during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing entitled 'Protecting Kids Online: Testimony from a Facebook Whistleblower' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 05 October 2021 . Haugen left Facebook in May 2020 and provided internal company documents about Facebook to journalists and others, alleging that Facebook consistently chooses profit over safety. EPA-EFE/Drew Angerer / POOL

FILE PHOTO: Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., October 23, 2019. REUTERS/Erin Scott/File Photo

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp hit by global outage

The official handles for Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have confirmed the outage via Twitter. Photo illustration: AFP

In these pictures relased by CBS News on October 4, 2021, Frances Haugen, a Facebook whistleblower, speaks during an interview with Scott Pelley on 60 MINUTES on October 3, 2021. - The whistleblower who shared a trove of Facebook documents alleging the social media giant knew its products were fueling hate and harming children's mental health revealed her identity Sunday in a televised interview, and accused the company of choosing "profit over safety." Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old data scientist from Iowa, has worked for companies including Google and Pinterest -- but said in an interview with CBS news show "60 Minutes" that Facebook was "substantially worse" than anything she had seen before. (Photo by Robert Fortunato / CBS News/60MINUTES / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /Robert Fortunato for CBS News/60MINUTES " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Facebook brands suggestions it fuelled US Capitol riot as ‘ludicrous’

Nick Clegg, head of policy at Facebook. Photo: DPA

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, supporters of President Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley, center with fur hat, are seen during the riot at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. A federal judge on Tuesday, July 6, 2021, turned down Chansley's third bid to be released from jail on charges stemming from the riot. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Facebook, Google and other Big Tech firms face more fines in Russia as Kremlin curbs access to information online

US tech giants are facing the prospect of higher fines in Russia if they do not remove contented deemed illegal as the Kremlin cracks down on access to online information and accused foreign firms of meddling in parliamentary elections. Photo: Shutterstock

The app Smart Voting is displayed on an iPhone screen in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Facing Kremlin pressure, Apple and Google on Friday removed from their online stores an opposition-created smartphone app that tells voters which candidates are likely to defeat those backed by Russian authorities, as polls opened in Russia's parliamentary election. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Former employee Frances Haugen says the world’s largest social network has ‘put their astronomical profits before people’
She accuses founder Mark Zuckerberg and his company of knowingly pushing products that harm children and young adults



Ex-employee Frances Haugen says the social network has ‘put their astronomical profits before people’, knowingly pushing products that harm children and young adults.


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