Facebook has once again found itself in the crosshairs of public discourse after a whistleblower was interviewed on “60 Minutes”. Frances Haugen (“Haugen”) is a former product manager at Facebook for the civic disinformation team. (Matt Levine, Bloomberg Law). Haugen shared in the interview that she was increasingly concerned with Facebook’s decision-making processes, which consistently choose profit over the public good. Id. Senators on a U.S. Senate subcommittee heard more than three hours of testimony from Haugen in which she provided specific examples of the impact of misinformation on teenagers’ mental health, and a lack of accountability on events in the United States. (Cecilia Kang, New York Times). Haugen brought internal documents and spoke candidly about the deliberate efforts Facebook makes to keep people, including children, hooked on their services. Id. She further said Facebook had hidden disturbing research about how teenagers felt emotionally worse about themselves after using its products, which include the popular social media app Instagram, and how Facebook was willing to use hateful content on its site to keep users hooked on its products. Id. . .

Read More