Frances Haugen, former product manager at Facebook in 2019, disclosed tens of thousands of research pages and internal documents of the company owned by Mark Zuckerberg. The social networking platform is accused of spreading hatred, violence and misinformation.
Facebook shares fell 5.5 percent on Monday, following allegations by former manager Frances Haugen that the social network was aware that it was being used to spread hate and misinformation messages globally and did nothing to stop them.
Whatsapp, Facebook and Instagram became unavailable on Monday night , all three services being owned by the parent company Facebook.
In an interview for CBS, the whistleblower says that she decided to act, after losing a loved one due to conspiracy theories, Mediafax reports .
Frances Haugen has publicly complained that the giant has not acted in a timely manner to limit the dissemination of hate content, violence and misinformation and how its directors have tried to hide evidence.
“Facebook, every time, chose what was best for her and her profits”
In an interview with CBS ”60 Minutes’, Haugen – who has also worked for other Silicon Valley tech giants such as Google and Pinterest – said: “I have repeatedly seen conflicts of interest between what was good for the public. and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, every time, chose what was best for her and her profits. “
About a month ago, Haugen filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission , claiming that Facebook is hiding from investors and the public the results of investigations into its shortcomings. She also shared the documents with the Wall Street Journal, which published an investigation in several parts, showing that Facebook was aware of the problems.
Haugen will testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security on Tuesday. “I’ve seen a lot of social media, but Facebook is worse than anything I’ve seen so far,” Haugen said.
The computer engineer said he decided to fight this battle because he lost a loved one due to conspiracy theories circulating on social networks.
“Facebook is breaking up our societies and causing ethnic violence around the world, including Myanmar in 2018, when the military used Facebook to launch a genocide,” the former manager explained.
Facebook has firmly rejected the former manager’s statements