Facebook will fuel more unrest, whistleblower tells UK lawmakers | Social Media News

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The social media giant must stop its algorithms from delivering divisive content, Frances Haugen told British politicians.

Facebook Inc will fuel more violent unrest around the world unless it stops its algorithms from delivering extreme and confrontational content, whistleblower Frances Haugen told a UK parliamentary committee.

The former employee, who accused the social media giant of putting profit before people at a US Senate subcommittee earlier this month, said she was encouraged by UK plans to force big tech companies to tackle harmful content on their platforms.

Facebook, Haugen said on Monday, saw online security as a cost and the company loved a startup culture where it was good to cut corners. “Undoubtedly, it makes the hatred worse,” she said.

With a focus on the United States, the company was willfully blind to its impact in many markets where the lack of local language staff meant it often did not understand the toxic or dangerous nature of the messages on its platform. shape, she said.

The world’s largest social network has dismissed the accusations, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying earlier this month that it was deeply illogical to claim that Facebook deliberately put out content that made people angry.

“Contrary to what was discussed during the hearing, we have always had the commercial incentive to remove harmful content from our sites. People don’t want to see it when using our apps and advertisers don’t want their ads to be around, ”Facebook said in a statement Monday.

The company said it had spent $ 13 billion to keep users safe and agreed regulation was needed across the industry, adding that it was delighted the UK was moving forward. with online security laws.

Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has been accused by U.S. lawmakers of chasing higher profits while being flippant about user safety.

“Facebook did not want to accept that even small splinters of profit were sacrificed for security, and that is not acceptable,” said Frances Haugen. [UK Parliament 2021/Annabel Moeller/Handout via Reuters]

The UK is proposing laws that could fine social media companies up to 10% of their turnover if they don’t remove or limit the distribution of illegal content.

“The events that we see around the world, things like Myanmar and Ethiopia, these are the first chapters because engagement-based ranking does two things: first, it prioritizes and amplifies extreme content that divides and polarizes and secondly, it focuses it, “Haugen mentioned.

Haugen told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in October that Facebook has come up with ways to scroll through users even if doing so is detrimental to their well-being.

She also said she provided the documents used in a Wall Street Journal investigation and Senate hearing into Instagram’s damage to teenage girls. She compared the platform to addictive substances such as tobacco and opioids.

Facebook operates in more than 190 countries and has more than 2.8 billion monthly users.

Home Secretary wants tougher laws

Ahead of Monday’s hearing, Haugen met with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who advocates stricter legislation for tech platforms that fail to protect users.

Haugen is due to speak at a major technology conference, the Web Summit, next week and in Brussels to European policymakers.

“Facebook did not want to accept that even small bursts of profit were sacrificed for safety, and that is not acceptable,” she said on Monday, highlighting Instagram’s impact on the mental health of some young users.

Reuters, along with other news organizations, viewed documents released by Haugen to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Congress.

They showed that Facebook knew it had not hired enough workers with both the language skills and knowledge of local events necessary to identify objectionable messages from users in a number of developing countries.



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