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less than two years later Facebook hired Frances Haugen To help fix dangerous distortions that spread across its platform, he had seen enough.
idealism he and countless others have been sadly misplaced, invested in the promises of the world’s largest social network to fix itself. damage Facebook and its sister Instagram’s competitor to users was simply the company’s resistance to change, he concluded. And the world beyond Facebook needed to know.
The 37-year-old data scientist appeared before Congress last week and the cameras were to blame. Facebook the pursuit of profit rather than security was probably the most important choice. him life.
And he pointed out an emerging threat to a young industry that has become one of society’s most powerful forces: The era of Big Tech whistleblowers has certainly arrived.
“What am I doing here?’ “There was a general awakening,” he said. Google increase protection for employees who raise the alarm about corporate crimes.
“When you have hundreds of thousands of people asking this question, it’s inevitable that you will whistle more,” he said.
Haugen this is by far the most visible of informants. And him accusations Facebook‘s platforms harm children and incite political violence – backed by thousands of pages of the company’s own research – may be the most damaging.
But he The latest addition to a growing list of workers determined to make their voices heard across technology. Almost all are women, and observers say this is no coincidence.
Ellen Pao, an executive suing the Silicon Valley investment firm, said that even after making progress, women, and especially women of color, remained outsiders in the heavily male tech industry. Kleiner Perkins for gender discrimination in 2012
This status allows them to be more critical and to see “some systemic problems in a way that those who are part of the system and who are most beneficiaries and embedded in the system cannot function”. said.
In recent years, employees in companies, Google, Pinterest, Uber and Theranos, as well as other Facebookhave raised alarms about what they say is a gross abuse of power by those in control.
Their new outspokenness is stirring up an industry that has shown its power to improve society while making billions. Many well-educated and highly paid workers have long embraced this ethic. But faith in a growing number of companies is waning.
Still, there’s a difference between voicing your company’s failures and exposing them to the world. There is a price to be paid and Haugen he definitely knew that.
“Getting to the point of doing what is absolutely terrifying, terrifying. he NS. And the moment you start your testimony, you know your life will change,” said Wendell Potter, a former health insurance executive whose practice in her industry is whistling.
Since he came before Congress on Tuesday, Haugen estranged from the public. A representative said he and him the lawyer was not available for comment.
Daughter of an Iowa-born doctor and academic pastor, Haugen He stands out for his brilliant credentials, including a Harvard business degree and multiple patents.
Long before he became an informant Haugen local was great.
He grew up near the University of Iowa campus. him father taught medicine Haugen He was a member of a high school engineering team that ranked in the top 10 in the country. Years later, when the local paper wrote about Haugen’s descent Google, somebody him primary school teachers commemorated him “terribly bright”, but not at all self-conscious.
in the fall of 2002, he He went to the newly formed Olin College of Engineering outside of Boston to attend his freshman year of 75.
Intrigued by Olin’s offer of free first-comer education and the chance to create something new, many turned down offers from top universities, says computer science professor Lynn Andrea Stein.
But the school didn’t get its accreditation until it started offering graduates, which didn’t make it an asset in the eyes of some employers and became a barrier to the school. Haugen and like others him.
“NS Google folks actually threw him application without reading it,” Stein said.
Stein helped persuade the company to change its mind and sent an email explaining. Haugen as “a voracious student and an absolute person who can do anything” with great work ethic, communication and leadership skills.
NS Google, Haugen he worked on one project to make thousands of books accessible from mobile phones, and he worked on another project to help create a new social network.
Google payment Haugen Getting a master’s degree in business at Harvard, where a classmate said they were already having deep discussions about the social implications of new technology.
“Smartphones were just becoming a thing. “We talked a lot about the ethical use of data and building things the wrong way.” Haugen in 2011. “HE He has always been very interested in the intersection of human well-being and technology.”
Sheffi said that she laughed when she saw the questioning social media posts recently. Haugenwhistleblowing motivations.
“No one puts France up to everything” he said.
While at Harvard, Haugen He worked with another student to create an online dating platform to bring together like-minded friends.
Haugen returned Googlebefore moving on to jobs on Yelp, and Pinterest, at every stop, works with algorithms designed to understand users’ requests and combine them with people and content relevant to their interests.
at the end of 2018, he contacted by a recruiter Facebook. About “60 Minutes” and in recent interviews with the Wall Street Journal, Haugen reminded me that he told the company he If it involves helping the platform tackle democracy and misinformation, it might be of interest to a business. HE said he told executives about a friend who was drawn to white nationalism after spending time on online forums and him The desire to prevent it from happening to others.
In June 2019, he joined Facebook team focused on networking activity surrounding international elections. But he told he grew up angry he become more aware of the widespread misinformation that fuels violence and abuse online, and Facebook won’t appeal enough.
HE He resigned in May, only after working for weeks reviewing internal research and copying thousands of documents. Aunt, he He told Congressional investigators, he not to destroy Facebook, just change it.
“I believe in potential” Facebook” he said during him testifying last week “We can have social media that connects us, that we enjoy, without shattering our democracy, putting our children at risk, and sowing the seeds of ethnic violence around the world. We can do better.”
Maybe, but those who know the industry say Facebook and other tech giants will step in.
“There will be a clamp inside. It has already happened,” said whistleblower Ifeoma Ozoma Pinterest it now seeks to encourage others in technology to expose corporate abuses. “This way, there is a deterrent effect through the increased surveillance that employees will be under.”
Within the wider whistleblower community, many Haugenpraising what they see as him Receiving paperwork that reinforces audacity, calm mind, and foreboding him situation.
“What he did it right he I bought them all him documents and he He did this in advance. … It’s going to happen him Eileen Foster, a former executive at Countrywide Financial, who struggled to find another job in banking after uncovering widespread fraud in the company’s approval of subprime loans in 2008.
Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook The employee, who last year accused the social network of ignoring fake accounts used to undermine foreign elections, said he was surprised the company wasn’t caught. Haugen When he The company was going through research. The harsh denials of their managers now reveal their unwillingness to change.
“I think they’ve fallen into a trap that they keep denying, crouching down and becoming even more provocative” he said. “And that’s causing more people to come forward.”
Still, Haugen’s actions may make that impossible. him Foster said to find another job in the industry. And if Facebook If he goes after you legally to get documents, he’ll have the resources of war that a lone employee can never hope to match.
Foster remembers how his boss at Countrywide, an ally, begged him to give up on him.
“Eileen said what are you doing. You’re just a stain. A stain!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but I’m an angry speck,'” said Foster.
Years later, after enduring abuse by her colleagues, rejection by employers, and a lengthy court battle over her claims, she knows better. But he does not regret his choices. And feels a similar belief Haugen, but whistleblowers are separated by a generation.
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