Facebook chief ‘not willing to protect the public from harm’ | Facebook social networking site

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The whistleblower on Facebook, whose discoveries have plunged the social media giant into a crisis, has launched new stinging criticisms of Mark Zuckerberg, saying he has not shown any willingness to protect the public from the harm his company is doing.

Frances Hogan told the Observer newspaper that Facebook’s founder and CEO had shown no desire to run the company in a way that protects the public from the consequences of harmful content.

Her intervention came as pressure mounted on the nearly trillion-dollar (£730m) business following a new wave of disclosures based on documents leaked by Hogan, a former Facebook employee. The New York Times reports that workers have repeatedly warned that Facebook is being flooded with false allegations about a rigged 2020 presidential election result and believe the company should have done more to address it.

Haugen, who appeared before MPs and peers in Westminster on Monday, said Zuckerberg, who controls the business through a majority of voting shares, has shown no willingness to protect the public.

“At the moment, Mark is not accountable. He has all control. He has no oversight, and he has not demonstrated his willingness to run the company to the level necessary for public safety.”

She added that giving all shareholders an equal say in the management of the company will lead to changes at the top. “I believe in the rights of shareholders and the shareholders, or shareholders except Mark, have for years been demanding one vote for one share. The reason for that is that I am pretty sure the shareholders would choose another leadership if they had a choice.”

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is accused of failing to protect the public. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Haugen, who resigned as Facebook’s product manager in May, said she leaked tens of thousands of documents to the Wall Street Journal and Congress because she knew the company wouldn’t change otherwise.

She said, “There are great companies that have made big cultural changes. Apple has made a big cultural change. Microsoft has made a big cultural change. Facebook can change too. They just have to have the will.”

This weekend, a consortium of US news organizations released a new wave of stories based on the Haugen documents. The New York Times reports that internal research has shown how, at some point after last year’s US presidential election, 10% of all US views on political material on Facebook – a very high percentage for Facebook – were from posts falsely claiming Joe Biden’s victory. It was fraudulent. An internal review criticized attempts to tackle “Stop Theft” groups that post allegations on the platform that elections were rigged. The research said: “Enforcement was fragmented.”

These discoveries have reignited fears about Facebook’s role in the January 6 riots, as a mob seeking to overturn the election result stormed the Washington Capitol. The New York Times added that some reports of the story were based on documents that Haugen had not released.

A Facebook spokesperson said: “At the heart of these stories is a false premise. Yes, we are a company and we make money, but the idea that we’re doing it at the expense of people’s safety or well-being misunderstands where our business interests lie. The truth is we’ve invested $13 billion and have more than 40,000 A person to do one job: Keeping people safe on Facebook.

Facebook’s Vice President of Integrity Jay Rosen said the company has taken multiple measures to protect the public during and after the election and that “responsibility for [6 January] Rebellion with those who violated the law during the attack and those who incited it.”

It was also reported Friday that a new whistleblower on Facebook had filed and, like Haugen, filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the US financial regulator, alleging that the company refused to enforce safety rules for fear of upsetting Donald Trump. Or influence the growth of Facebook.

Haugen will testify in person Monday before the joint committee examining the online security bill, which would impose a duty of care on social media companies to protect users from harmful content, and allow the telecoms regulator, Ofcom, to fine those who break that law. . The maximum fine is 10% of global sales volume, so in the case of Facebook, this could run into billions of pounds. Facebook, whose services also include Instagram and WhatsApp, has 2.8 billion daily users and generated $86 billion in revenue last year.

In addition to issuing detailed refutations of what Haugen revealed, Facebook is said to be planning a major change that will put distance between the company and its main platform. Zuckerberg may announce a rebranding of Facebook’s corporate identity Thursday, according to a report that said the company is keen to underscore its future as a player in the “metaverse,” a digital world where people interact and live their social and professional lives virtually. .

Haugen said that Facebook should be forced by all regulators to be more transparent with the information at its disposal internally, as detailed in its document leaks. She said one major reform would be to create a formal structure where regulators can request reports from Facebook about any issue they identify.

“Let’s imagine there is a car brand that has had car accidents five times as much as other cars. We wouldn’t accept this car company saying, ‘This is really hard, we’re doing our best, we’re sorry, we’re trying to do better in the future.'” We never accept that as an answer and we hear that from Facebook all the time. There has to be a way we can escalate concerns and they should actually give us a response.”

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