The 37-year-old former engineer described, calmly and precisely, before a Senate committee, the situation of a company which, according to her, renounced moral principles in the name of profit. Congress has promised to better regulate the Californian giant.
This is a "rare" and "unvarnished" overview of the "inner workings of the largest social network in the world" that delivered Tuesday the former engineer of Facebook Frances Haugen, estimates the New York Times .
The whistleblower, who worked for the California company for two years, testified for more than three hours before the Senate Commerce Committee. Relying on documents she took with her last spring and which were partially presented by the Wall Street Journal in mid-September, Frances Haugen notably claimed that Facebook had deliberately hidden worrying research into the negative impact. of the Adolescent Mental Health Social Network.
Asked about a version of Instagram for those under 13, a project officially suspended at the end of September, the engineer said that she did not see Facebook giving it up. She also pointed to the responsibility of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, accusing him of “unilaterally” controlling the company and of being “the chief designer of algorithms”.
A hearing that brings together Republicans and Democrats
Frances Haugen's testimony may “turn out to be the most important congressional hearing to date” regarding Facebook, Slate magazine believes . If it “did not reveal much new compared to what it had already disclosed to the Wall Street Journal ” , it revealed for the first time a consensus between Republicans and Democrats. “While parliamentarians in the past have been largely divided along partisan lines [with Republicans blaming Facebook for its anti-conservative biases in particular], this time around, they seemed to agree that the company's algorithms could cause harm to users of the social network ”.
"This hearing marks the beginning of a new crisis for Facebook in Washington, which galvanized" Tuesday "parliamentarians from both sides" , adds the Washington Post . “Senators have repeatedly compared the company to Big Tobacco, an industry that provides addictive and profitable products that are ultimately bad. The tobacco industry was ultimately restricted by a landmark law, an initiative that lawmakers promised to replicate, ” concludes the American daily.
“Gone are the days when you invaded our privacy, promoted toxic content and used children and adolescents. Congress is going to act ” , notably thundered Democratic Senator Ed Markey while parliamentarian Richard Blumenthal called Frances Haugen a “ catalyst for change ”.
Mark Zuckerberg breaks his long silence
A Facebook spokesperson reacted, on Twitter, pointing out that Frances Haugen had “not worked on child protection (at Facebook) or on Instagram […] and has no direct knowledge of these topics from of his work ” , within the Californian company.
“Facebook has chosen to respond to whistleblower Frances Haugen in the most cowardly way possible,” said The Verge . "By hiding Mark Zuckerberg, the man responsible for Facebook's decisions, and by starting a process to smear and discredit Haugen ", points out the magazine, a tactic similar to that used, according to him, by the tobacco industry in the years 1990.
The boss of the social network, who did not react to the documents disclosed by the Wall Street Journal , however ended up breaking the silence on Tuesday evening, reports USA Today . “The argument that we deliberately put forward content that makes people angry, for profit, is completely illogical,” he criticized. “We make money from ads, and advertisers tell us all the time that they don't want their ads alongside harmful or vehement content. And I don't know of any tech company that sets out to develop products that make people angry or depressed, ” he concluded.
Comments
Post a Comment