Frances Haugen, the whistleblower whose leaks served as the basis for The Wall Street Journal’s explosive “Facebook Files” investigation, accused the company of prioritizing growth and profit over safety on its platform during CBS’ Sunday night broadcast of 60 Minutes.
According to Haugen, who was a product manager at Facebook, the platform’s internal reports show its algorithms promote harmful content because it gets more engagement. Among other claims, she noted that Instagram has a damaging effect on teen mental health.
The reports follow Facebook’s Congressional hearings last week, during which legislators grilled the tech company over its impact on children. Haugen is scheduled to testify before Congress this week.
Facebook has previously claimed it has made progress on brand safety. In a GARM report published earlier this year, Facebook said it reduced the prevalence of hate speech on its platforms by 20% from Q3 to Q4, while the rate at which it proactively removed hateful content increased to 49% from 26%, due to improvements to its AI detection technology.
The data was not consistent with a report made public by Haugen, which says Facebook estimates that it may take action on as little as 3% to 5% of hate speech and about six-tenths of 1% of violence and incitement on the platform.
Advertisers have been through the Facebook rigmarole before, but just can’t seem to quit it.
So, what do you think? Is another Facebook ad boycott in the works? Campaign US wants to know your thoughts.
Facebook’s whistleblower, Frances Haugen, says the company promotes harmful content on its platform for profit. Facebook has previously shared actions taken to prevent such content to GARM. Is another Facebook ad boycott around the corner?
— Campaign US (@CampaignLiveUS) October 4, 2021