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WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Facebook data scientist told Congress on Tuesday that the social networking giant’s products are harming children and fueling polarization in the US, while its executives refuse to make changes because they raise profits more than security.
Frances Haugen He testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. HE accuses the company of being aware of the blatant harm done to some teens from Instagram and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.
Haugen featured a sweeping Facebook condemnation backed by tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents he secretly copied before leaving him job in the company’s civil integrity unit. HE He also filed a complaint with federal officials, claiming that Facebook’s own research showed that it fueled hatred, misinformation, and political unrest, but that the company was hiding what it knew.
Haugen says he talking because him The belief that “Facebook’s products harm children, fuel division and undermine our democracy.”
“The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram more secure, but won’t make the necessary changes because it puts astronomical profits in front of people.” he says him written statement prepared for trial. “Congress action is needed. They cannot solve this crisis without your help.”
After recent reports in The Wall Street Journal based on documents he It sparked a public outcry that leaked into the newspaper, Haugen clarified him ID in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday night. HE “Facebook has repeatedly shown that it prefers profit to security,” he insisted.
The former employee, who has challenged the social networking giant with 2.8 billion users worldwide and a market cap of nearly $1 trillion, is a 37-year-old data scientist from Iowa with a computer engineering degree and a Harvard graduate degree in business administration. Before being hired by Facebook in 2019, he He has worked at tech companies for 15 years, including Google, Pinterest, and Yelp.
While the panel examined Facebook’s use of information on Instagram from its own researchers that could indicate potential harm to some young users, particularly girls, they publicly downplayed the negative effects. For some of the teens who dedicate themselves to Facebook’s popular photo-sharing platform, the peer pressure generated by the visual-focused Instagram has led to mental health and body image issues, and in some cases, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. Haugen showed.
An internal study showed that 13.5% of teen girls said Instagram made their thoughts of suicide worse, and 17% of teen girls said it worsened their eating disorder.
“The company deliberately withholds vital information from the public, the US government, and governments around the world.” Haugen says him written testimony. “The documents I submitted to Congress prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public about what its own research has revealed about children’s safety, the effectiveness of artificial intelligence systems, and its role in spreading divisive and extremist messages.”
As the public relations fiasco over Instagram research escalated last week, Facebook suspended work on a child-directed version of Instagram; that says the company is mainly aimed at young people between the ages of 10 and 12.
At stake are algorithms that manage what users prefer in their news feeds and how they prefer hateful content. Haugen, focusing on algorithm products him A study at Facebook said a 2018 change to content streaming contributed to greater division and malice in a network ostensibly built to bring people together. Despite the animosity fueled by the new algorithms, Facebook has discovered that it helps keep people coming back – a model that helps the social media giant sell more of the digital ads that make up the bulk of its revenue.
Haugen’s criticism goes beyond his Instagram status. HE He claimed that after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump last year, Facebook prematurely shut down security measures designed to prevent misinformation and incitement to violence, contributing to the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6.
After the November elections, Facebook dissolved its civil integrity unit. Haugen was working. HE, he he said, it was the moment he “I don’t trust they’re willing to actually invest in what needs to be invested to keep Facebook safe from being dangerous.”
Haugen says he When they hire Facebook executives him he he wanted to work in an area of the company that fights misinformation because he lost a friend to online conspiracy theories.
Facebook insists that Haugen’s claims are misleading and that there is no evidence to support its proposition that this is the primary cause of social polarization.
“Even with the most advanced technology I believe we implement, even with the tens of thousands of people we employ to try and maintain security and integrity on our platform, we will never be exactly above that 100%. Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of policy and public relations, told CNN on Sunday. ‘s “Trusted Sources” program.
That’s because of the “instant and spontaneous form of communication” on Facebook, Clegg said. “I think we’re doing more than a reasonable person would expect.”
stepping forward, Haugen says he He hopes it will help the government put in place regulations for Facebook’s activities. Like other tech giants Google, Amazon and Apple, Facebook has enjoyed minimal regulation for years. Washington.
Separately on Monday, a massive global outage plunged Facebook, Instagram, and the company’s WhatsApp messaging platform into chaos and gradually dissipated by Monday Eastern time. For some users, WhatsApp was working for a while and then not working. For others, Instagram was working but Facebook was not, etc.
Facebook did not say what could have caused the outage, which began around 11:40 p.m. EDT and still hasn’t been fixed more than six hours later.
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