TechDigits

Tech news
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Frances Haugen says Facebook is 'making hate worse'

Frances Haugen says Facebook is 'making hate worse'

Whistleblower Frances Haugen has told MPs Facebook is "unquestionably making hate worse", as they consider what new rules to impose on big social networks.

Ms Haugen was talking to the Online Safety Bill committee in London.

She said Facebook safety teams were under-resourced, and "Facebook has been unwilling to accept even little slivers of profit being sacrificed for safety".

And she warned that Instagram was "more dangerous than other forms of social media".

While other social networks were about performance, play, or an exchange of ideas, "Instagram is about social comparison and about bodies... about people's lifestyles, and that's what ends up being worse for kids", she told a joint committee of MPs and Lords.

She said Facebook's own research described one problem as "an addict's narrative" - where children are unhappy, can't control their use of the app, but feel like they cannot stop using it.

"I am deeply worried that it may not be possible to make Instagram safe for a 14-year-old, and I sincerely doubt that it is possible to make it safe for a 10-year-old," she said.

The committee is fine-tuning a proposed law that will place new duties on large social networks and subject them to checks by the media regulator Ofcom.

Asked if the law was "keeping Mark Zuckerberg awake at night", Ms Haugen said she was "incredibly proud of the UK for taking such a world-leading stance".

"The UK has a tradition of leading policy in ways that are followed around the world.

"I can't imagine Mark isn't paying attention to what you're doing."

British English problem


Ms Haugen also warned that Facebook was unable to police content in multiple languages around the world - something which should worry UK officials, she said.

"UK English is sufficiently different that I would be unsurprised if the safety systems that they developed primarily for American English were actually under-enforcing in the UK," she said.

And she said that dangerous misinformation in other languages affects people in Britain.

"Those people are also living in the UK, and being fed misinformation that is dangerous, that radicalises people," she warned.

Ms Haugen also urged the committee to include paid-for advertising in its new rules, saying the current system was "literally subsidising hate on these platforms" because of their algorithmic ranking.

"It is substantially cheaper to run an angry hateful divisive ad than it is to run a compassionate, empathetic ad," she said.

And she also urged MPs to require a breakdown of who is harmed by content, rather than an average figure - suggesting Facebook is "very good at dancing with data", but pushes people towards "extreme content".

Ms Haugen appeared at a joint committee of MPs and Lords

"The median experience on Facebook is a pretty good experience," she said.

"The real danger is that 20% of the population has a horrible experience or an experience that is dangerous," she said.

"Accept under-resourcing"


She warned that employees were unable to report internal concerns at Facebook - something she called a "huge weak spot".

"When I worked on counter-espionage, I saw things where I was concerned about national security, and I had no idea how to escalate those because I didn't have faith in my chain of command at that point," she told the committee.

And she warned: "We were told to accept under-resourcing."

Similar problems plague Facebook's Oversight Board, which can overturn the company's decisions on content, she said. She repeated her claim that Facebook has repeatedly lied to its own watchdog, and said this is a "defining moment" for the Oversight Board to "step up".

"I don't know what the purpose of the Oversight Board is," she said.

It comes as several news outlets published fresh stories based on the thousands of leaked documents Ms Haugen took with her when she left Facebook.

Facebook has characterised previous reporting as misleading, and at one point referred to the leaked documents as "stolen".

"Contrary to what was discussed at the hearing, we've always had the commercial incentive to remove harmful content from our sites," a spokesperson said, after Ms Haugen finished giving evidence.

"People don't want to see it when they use our apps, and advertisers don't want their ads next to it. That's why we've invested $13bn (£9.4bn) and hired 40,000 people to do one job: keep people safe on our apps. "

The company said that over the last three quarters it has halved the amount of hate speech seen on Facebook, which it claims now accounts for only 0.05% of all content viewed.

"While we have rules against harmful content and publish regular transparency reports, we agree we need regulation for the whole industry so that businesses like ours aren't making these decisions on our own," the spokesperson said.

"The UK is one of the countries leading the way and we're pleased the Online Safety Bill is moving forward."


An avalanche of information emerged on Monday from leaked Facebook documents - and it was hard to keep up.

Allegations include that the social media giant is aware of its role in inciting violence all around the world, or causing harm to its users from US and UK to India and Ethiopia.

A common theme runs through each of the stories. They all suggest a tension between employees raising the alarm about their concerns and a corporate machine that does not appear to be using this to inform its policies.

Reporters and journalists have been highlighting many of these same concerns, especially for the past 18 months. I've investigated the human cost of online disinformation and abuse again and again and exposed the damage being done to real people offline using these sites.

But until these documents were released by Ms Haugen, it was very difficult to know how aware Facebook was of that damage.

These latest leaks reinforce the idea that it is conscious of it - although it refutes a number of the claims.

And it means pressure is mounting on policymakers around the world to do something about it.


Watch: Frances Haugen tells MPs that Facebook "unquestionably" makes hate worse

 Monika Bickert: "It's in our financial interest to make sure that people have a good experience on our site".


Newsletter

Related Articles

TechDigits
0:00
0:00
Close
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
Melinda French Gates Advocates for Increased Female Representation in AI to Prevent Bias
Snapchat+ gains 4 million paying subscribers in its first year
Apple Makes History as the First Public Company Valued at $3 Trillion
Elon Musk Implements Twitter Limits to Tackle Data Scraping, but Faces Criticism for Technical Misunderstanding
EU and UK's Slow Electric Vehicle Adoption Raises Questions About the Transition to Green Mobility
Top Companies Express Concerns Over Europe's Proposed AI Law, Citing Competitiveness and Investment Risks
Meta Unveils Insights on AI Usage in Facebook and Instagram, Amid Growing Calls for Transparency
Crypto Scams Against Seniors Soar by 78% in 2022, Experts Urge Vigilance
The End of an Era: National Geographic Dismisses Last of Its Staff Writers
Shield Your Wallet: The Perils of Wireless Credit Card Theft
Harvard Scientist Who Studies Honesty Accused Of Data Fraud, Put On Leave
Putting an End to the Subscription Snare: The Battle Against Unwitting Commitments
The Legal Perils of AI: Lawyer Faces Sanctions for Relying on Fictional Cases Generated by Chatbot
ChatGPT’s "Grandma Exploit": Ingenious Hack Exposes Loophole in AI, Generates Free Software Codes
The Disney Downturn: A Near Billion-Dollar Box Office Blow for the House of Mouse
A Digital Showdown: Canada Challenges Tech Giants with The Online News Act, Meta Strikes Back
Distress in the Depths: Submersible and Passengers Missing in Titanic Wreckage Expedition
Mark Zuckerberg stealing another idea: Twitter
European Union's AI Regulations Risk Self-Sabotage, Cautions smart and brave Venture Capitalist Joe Lonsdale
Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in
Chinese car exports surge
Reddit Blackout: Thousands of Communities Protest "Ludicrous" Pricing Changes
Nvidia Joins Tech Giants as First Chipmaker to Reach $1 Trillion Valuation
AI ‘extinction’ should be same priority as nuclear war – experts
×