WASHINGTON (CN) — Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee who shared internal documents with regulators and the Wall Street Journal, urged Congress on Tuesday to strengthen online privacy regulations and demand transparency from the tech giant.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to keep secrets when people’s lives are on the line,” Haugen told members of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security.
She said that during her time working for Facebook on counter-espionage and as the lead project manager for civic misinformation, she witnessed the company repeatedly encounter conflicts between its own profits and public safety.
“Facebook consistently resolved these conflicts in favor of its own profits. The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat,” she said.
Prior to joining Facebook in 2019, the data scientist worked with algorithms at Google, Pinterest and Yelp. Algorithm design was at the heart of Tuesday’s hearing, during which Haugen called for congressional oversight of Facebook’s processes.
Facebook and Instagram algorithms work on an engagement-based ranking system, which means users are fed content largely based on their preferences collected by the company.
Then comes “amplification,” Haugen said.
This algorithmic design is how, for example, a teenager who begins social media usage by clicking on healthy recipes could be unwillingly exposed to content related to eating disorders. Haugen's leaks to the Wall Street Journal formed the foundation of a report that found Facebook was aware Instagram use could lead to anxiety and other mental health issues for teenage girls.
Haugen said a preferable design would be chronological, showing content to consumers based on what time it was posted rather than how likely it is to spark extreme reactions.
But, she said, Facebook wants virality.
“Facebook knows that content that elicits an extreme reaction from you is more likely to get a click, a comment or reshare. They know that other people will produce more content if they get the likes and comments and reshares,” Haugen said. "They prioritize content in your feed so that you will give little hits of dopamine to your friends, so that they will create more content.”
More content means more people spending more time on the platform, she explained. More eyeballs equals more money for Facebook.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who called Haugen a catalyst for change, noted during the hearing that Facebook’s ad revenue was $51.58 per user during the last quarter in the U.S. and Canada.
“Today, Facebook shapes our perception of the world by choosing the information we see. Even those who don’t use Facebook are impacted by the majority who do. A company with such frightening influence over so many people, over their deepest thoughts, feelings and behavior, needs real oversight,” Haugen said.
Haugen said she knew it was time to speak out when Facebook swiftly turned off temporary safeguards it had put in place to combat misinformation during the 2020 election.
During a "60 Minutes" interview over the weekend, she pointed to the move as a contributing factor to the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was partially fueled by online extremism.
Haugen told the panel on Tuesday that a starting point for regulatory reform would be to require “full access to data for research not directed by Facebook.”
“On this foundation, we can build sensible rules and standards to address consumer harms, illegal content, data protection, anticompetitive practices, algorithmic systems and more,” she said.
If the public has access to Facebook's methods and can study how they impact children and adults, a safer social media experience is possible, according to Haugen, who accused her former employer of “operating in the shadows.”
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who chairs the consumer protection subcommittee, said Big Tech is “facing a Big Tobacco moment.”
“Facebook knows its products can be addicting and toxic to children,” said Blumenthal, who had spent some of his time as Connecticut's attorney general litigating against tobacco companies for misleading the public on the substance’s addictive nature.
Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, added that Facebook’s own research shows that addiction to its platforms is most severe in teens, peaking at age 14.
“Facebook understands that if they want to continue to grow they have to find new users, they have to make sure that the next generation is just as engaged with Instagram as the current one and the way they'll do that is by making sure that children establish habits before they have good self-regulation,” Haugen said.
Several senators expressed discontent over testimony given last week by Facebook's global head of safety, Antigone Davis. She told Congress that Facebook recently deleted 600,000 accounts from children under the age of 13. Davis also contended that Facebook prohibits weight loss and tobacco advertisements to minors, but Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah said on Tuesday that her claim was false.
A major problem with Facebook, Haugen noted, is that it is constantly trying to scale up. Instead of humans, she said, the company heavily relies on the use of artificial intelligence to weed out illicit or harmful content.
She said “human-scale social media, rather than computer-scale social media,” could help slow the spread of harmful content and misinformation.
Many panel members and Haugen herself called for a change to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that protects companies like Facebook from liability for content created by users.
Haugen argued that, since Facebook has 100% control over its algorithms, Congress should alter Section 230 to distinguish between user-made content and choices internet companies make.
Throughout the day, Facebook spokespeople took to Twitter and other platforms in attempts to discredit Haugen’s testimony.
Communications officer Andy Stone said in a tweet that Haugen “did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook.”
Blackburn, who read the statement aloud during the hearing, offered a response to Stone’s message.
“If Facebook wants to discuss their targeting of children, if they want to discuss their practices of privacy invasion or violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, I am extending to you an invitation to step forward, be sworn in and testify before this committee,” the senator said.
She added, “We would be pleased to hear from you and welcome your testimony.”
Lena Pietsch, Facebook’s director of policy communications, also released a statement on Tuesday criticizing Haugen's testimony .
“Today, a Senate Commerce subcommittee held a hearing with a former product manager at Facebook who worked for the company for less than two years, had no direct reports, never attended a decision-point meeting with C-level executives —and testified more than six times to not working on the subject matter in question,” Pietsch said.
But Pietsch said there is one thing she and Haugen agree on.
"It’s time to begin to create standard rules for the internet,” she said. “It's been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it’s time for Congress to act.”
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