Facebook has a “a system that amplifies division, extremism, and polarization… In some cases, this dangerous online talk that has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people,” Frances Haugen said.
Before a Senate panel on Tuesday, Facebook Inc. whistleblower Frances Haugen delivered a stinging encore to her devastating turn on “60 Minutes.”
What emerged has been a consistent theme of Facebook prioritizing profits over the safety and mental well-being of people, especially teen girls, Haugen warned. The tipping point for Haugen came on Dec. 2, 2020, she said, when Facebook disbanded the team she worked on. “They told us, ‘We’re dissolving Civic Integrity,’ she said in an interview on “60 Minutes” on Sunday. “Like, they basically said, ‘Oh good, we made it through the election. There wasn’t riots. We can get rid of Civic Integrity now.’ Fast forward a couple months, we got the [Jan. 6] insurrection.
In a stinging rebuke, Lena Pietsch, Facebook’s director of policy communications, downplayed Haugen’s credentials, and said, “We don’t agree with her characterization on the many issues she testified about.” Pietsch did agree that it is time to “create standard rules for the internet” and that the onus should be on Congress to act. “It’s been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated,” Pietsch said.
On Monday, Facebook filed a motion in federal court in Washington, D.C., to dismiss the FTC’s latest lawsuit.
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