She left the corporate in Could with hundreds of inner paperwork which she leaked to the Wall Road Journal. That led to a sequence of articles in September detailing how the corporate knew its apps helped unfold divisive content material and harmed the psychological well being of some younger customers.
Fb additionally knew it had too few staff with the mandatory language expertise to establish objectionable posts from customers in various growing nations, in line with the inner paperwork and Reuters interviews with former workers.
Individuals who use the platform in languages aside from English are utilizing a “uncooked, harmful model of Fb,” Haugen mentioned.
Fb has constantly mentioned it disagrees with Haugen’s characterization of the inner analysis and that it’s happy with the work it has finished to cease abuse on the platform.
Haugen mentioned the corporate ought to be required to reveal which languages are supported by its tech security methods, in any other case “Fb will do … the naked minimal to attenuate PR danger,” she mentioned.
The inner Fb paperwork made public by Haugen have additionally raised recent considerations about the way it might have didn’t take actions to stop the unfold of deceptive info.
Haugen mentioned the social media firm knew it may introduce “strategic friction” to make customers decelerate earlier than resharing posts, resembling requiring customers to click on a hyperlink earlier than they have been in a position to share the content material. However she mentioned the corporate averted taking such actions with a view to protect revenue.
Such measures to immediate customers to rethink sharing sure content material may very well be useful on condition that permitting tech platforms or governments to find out what info is true poses many dangers, in line with web and authorized consultants who spoke throughout a separate panel on the Reuters Subsequent convention on Friday.
“In regulating speech, you are handing states the facility to control speech for their very own functions,” mentioned David Greene, civil liberties director on the Digital Frontier Basis.
The paperwork made public by Haugen have led to a sequence of U.S. congressional hearings. Adam Mosseri, head of Meta Platforms’ Instagram app, will testify subsequent week on the app’s impact on younger individuals.
Requested what she would say to Mosseri given the chance, Haugen mentioned she would query why the corporate has not launched extra of its inner analysis.
“Now we have proof now that Fb has recognized for years that it was harming children,” she mentioned. “How are we purported to belief you going ahead?”
