For several weeks, a report that Facebook knew of a negative influence on young users but did not act has been causing considerable pressure from US politics.
An ex-employee plunged Facebook into the worst crisis since the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The 37-year-old Frances Haugen provided key information for a series of articles in the “Wall Street Journal”, after which Facebook came under considerable political pressure in the USA. Among other things, it was about the effects of the Instagram photo service on young users. Haugen first revealed herself as a whistleblower in interviews published on Sunday. On Tuesday she will testify in the US Senate.
Haugen told the Wall Street Journal that she was frustrated because Facebook was not sufficiently open about the fact that the online network could cause damage. Her job at Facebook, which she gave up in May after around two years, included the fight against attempts to manipulate elections. However, she quickly felt that her team did not have enough resources to make a difference.
Her impression was also that Facebook continued to focus on growth, even though the company was aware of the negative effects of the platform on users. “There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” said Haugen at “60 Minutes”. And Facebook has decided time and time again to optimize its business for its own interests.
From the series of reports in the “Wall Street Journal” in the past few weeks, the article, which dealt with internal research into the influence of Instagram on young users, hit particularly hard. Among other things, a report by Facebook researchers said that many teenagers – especially girls – Instagram increased dissatisfaction with their own bodies. That causes eating disorders and depression.
Facebook pointed out after the report that further data from the same studies showed that teenagers had identified other topics as helpful. Nevertheless, last week the online network put plans for an Instagram version for ten- to twelve-year-olds on hold.
Children aged 13 and over are currently allowed to use Instagram. However, many give an incorrect date of birth when registering. With “Instagram Kids”, Facebook said it wanted to tackle this problem too. But after a hearing in the US Senate it became clear that this would be difficult to achieve politically.
Antigone Davis, the manager responsible for user safety, did not get through to the senators with her relativizing statements. The Democrat Ed Markey compared the approach of the online network, especially on Instagram, with the irresponsible behavior of the tobacco industry. “Instagram is that first cigarette of childhood,” said Markey, among other things, that should make teenagers addicted at an early age and endanger their health. “Facebook acts like the big tobacco companies: They distribute a product that they know is harmful to the health of young people.”
Facebook founder and boss Mark Zuckerberg and the top manager responsible for operational business Sheryl Sandberg have not yet commented on the controversy.
As it became known on Sunday, Haugen contacted the “Wall Street Journal” in December last year after their department was dissolved. According to her own information, she found, to her surprise, various studies on the influence on users that were accessible to practically all employees in the internal communication platform of the online network. She collected such material until she left Facebook in the spring. Haugens had moved to Puerto Rico in the pandemic – and the HR department told her that this would not be accepted as a remote workstation.
“The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and triggering ethnic violence around the world,” she said “60 Minutes”.
A Facebook spokesman told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday after Haugen’s statements that the online network was trying every day to find a balance between the right of billions of people to freedom of expression and a safe environment for users. Haugen officially applied to the US authorities for protection as a whistleblower – this is the name given to employees who want to uncover grievances by passing on information. At the same time, top manager Guy Rosen emphasized that Facebook can now filter out hate speech down to 0.05 percent of such posts before it reached the users.
It is clear that Facebook is under more pressure, especially in US politics, than it has been since the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. At that time it became known that years earlier a data analysis company had been able to access information from millions of users without their knowledge. It wasn’t actually the most serious data protection misstep that had happened on Facebook until then – but it was the drop that broke the barrel.
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