Euronews
Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower who has exposed the company’s alleged inaction to fight misinformation and hate speech, has urged European lawmakers to seize a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to align technology and democracy and create a safer online world.
Facebook can no longer be “the judge, the jury, the prosecutor and the witness” of the digital space, Haugen told MEPs in a hearing held in Brussels.
“Democracies must step in and make new laws.”
The data engineer accused her former employer of undermining the health, safety and integrity of communities around the world due to its systematic failure to curb fake news and hate speech.
“I am here today because I believe that Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy and much more,” she said in her opening statement.
Huagen said the company has the tools to make Facebook safer but won’t take reforming action because doing so would result in fewer profits. This refusal to change course, she added, has already resulted in “actual violence” and will continue until new legislation is introduced.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she remarked. “We are here today because of deliberate choices Facebook has made.”
The whistleblower described Facebook as an impenetrable “profit-generating machine” that makes it impossible for public authorities, experts, academics and even its own shareholders to access its data and understand how the company really works and influences social coexistence.
“Almost no one outside Facebook knows what’s happening inside Facebook,” she told lawmakers. “No one can understand Facebook’s destructive choices better than Facebook.”
The California-based multinational, she noted, has known “at least” since 2018 that European political parties exploit polarising content to reach citizens at a faster pace and and at a larger scale. Online campaigns based on divisive messages are “five to ten times” cheaper, she said…
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