Facebook’s Latest Whistleblower Sends Shockwaves
Whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies in front of Congress. Source: The Press Democrat
On October 4th, Facebook and its products suffered an outage for over six hours. Hours before the outage, Facebook ex-employee Frances Haugen was publicly interviewed, claiming Facebook prioritizes increasing profits over the welfare of its users. During her testimony to Congress on October 5th, Haugen stated, "I'm here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy…Yesterday we saw Facebook taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I know that for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies."
This is not the first time Facebook has faced criticism from former employees. Disenchanted employees commonly vocalize their displeasure through the company’s internal message board, emphasizing Facebook’s obsession with growth and their lack of reform even in the face of research and evidence proving otherwise. However, what differentiates Frances Haugen from other whistleblowers in the past is her convincing story coupled with thousands of pages of confidential documents she has shared with lawmakers, the government, as well as The Wall Street Journal.
The main findings from the documents Frances Haugen leaked to the public emphasize the negative impact Facebook and its products have on society. One Facebook study that surveyed U.K. teens found that 13.5% of participants say their suicidal thoughts increased after starting Instagram. Another study found that 17% of teen girls say their eating disorders have worsened due to their use of Instagram. Furthermore, about 32% of teen girls said that Instagram made them feel worse when they had low self-esteem regarding their body image. There are two prominent reasons as to why this phenomenon is occurring, specifically to Facebook and Instagram. The first is how Instagram as a product is positioned. Contrary to its peers, such as TikTok, which uses short videos that are successful based on performance, and Snapchat that emphasizes a user's facial features, Instagram focuses heavily on one's lifestyle and body. The second is the algorithm that Facebook and Instagram utilize to promote popular posts on their explore pages. This algorithm continuously provides content that is popular amongst a user’s preferences and their peers, that can create an image of what a “perfect” life looks like. This deceiving message leads audiences to change aspects of their lives in an unhealthy manner.
Although formerly taking an apologetic tone for past grievances and mistakes, such as when Facebook apologized for sharing personal data with a political consultancy, Mark Zuckerburg adamantly stated that the company’s internal research had been misrepresented. In a blog post on Facebook, he wrote that “it’s disheartening to see that work taken out of context and used to construct a false narrative that we don't care.” He even went on to state that many of the claims don’t make any sense. “If we wanted to ignore research, why would we create an industry-leading research program to understand these important issues in the first place?.”
However, this is simply not true as many industries, such as the alcoholic beverage industry, funded numerous studies exploring its products’ effects without altering their products. According to Sen. Rich Blumenthal (Democrat senator of Connecticut), Facebook is facing a “big tobacco, jaw-dropping moment of truth.” The Facebook Files, which clearly show Facebook’s concerning impact on youthful audiences, is uniting Democrats and Republicans on this rare bipartisan issue. One potential solution offered by Haugen would be the strict examination and regulation of Facebook’s algorithm, which utilizes an engagement-based formula to spread harmful content.
Although both political parties are showing support to curtail the influence and effect of Facebook and its products, we must question whether real change can happen. According to Steven Levy, author of “Facebook: The Inside Story,” there have been apparent solutions, such as increasing privacy protection, that have been known for years; however, Congress has done little to act upon them. With a convincing story and demanding evidence, one can only hope Frances Haugen’s actions will lead to the removal of Facebook and its product’s negative influence on society.