आईसीटी समाचार
On "60 Minutes" Sunday night, the name of the Facebook whistleblower who disclosed tens of thousands of pages of internal research and data, causing a firestorm in recent weeks, was identified as Frances Haugen.The papers reveal that Facebook understands its platforms are being used to promote hate, violence, and disinformation, according to a 37-year-old former Facebook product manager who worked on civic integrity concerns at the business.
"What I witnessed at Facebook over and over again was conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook, and Facebook decided to optimize for its own interests, like generating more money," Haugen told "60 Minutes.""We have evidence from a number of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and disinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are hurting communities throughout the world," according to an internal Facebook (FB) memo referenced by "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelly.Haugen filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission approximately a month ago, saying that the firm is concealing information concerning its flaws from investors and the general public.
She also provided the papers with the Wall Street Journal, which ran a multi-part investigation revealing that Facebook was aware of issues with its applications, such as the harmful impacts of disinformation and the harm caused by Instagram, particularly to young girls.Haugen, who joined Facebook in 2019 after working for Google (GOOGL GOOGLE) and Pinterest (PINS), is scheduled to speak before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection on Tuesday.
"I've seen a lot of social networks," Haugen said, "and it was far worse at Facebook than anything I've seen previously." "By 2021, I recognized I'm going to have to accomplish this in a systematic way, that I'm going to have to get enough [papers] out so no one can doubt this is genuine."Facebook has reacted forcefully to the revelations, calling many of the allegations "misleading" and claiming that its programs do more good than damage.
"There is no perfection on social media as much as in any other area of life," Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg told CNN's Brian Stelter on Sunday morning, ahead of the 60 Minutes interview.
"We do a lot of research, and we try to share it as much as we can with external researchers," Clegg said. "But keep in mind that there's a world of difference between doing a peer-reviewed exercise in collaboration with other academics and preparing papers internally to provoke and inform internal discussion."
