Facebook Crisis: Whistleblower Shares How FB Chose Profit Over User's Mental Health

An anonymous whistleblower recently revealed major secrets of social media giant Facebook alleging that it knew its products were resulting in generating the feeling of hatred while also affecting the mental health of children across the world.

Unsplash

Also Read: Instagram Ruins Teenage Girls' Self-Image, And Facebook Knows About It

Reported first by AFP, this was shared in the form of confidential Facebook documents with US lawmakers as well as the Wall Street Journal. And this whistleblower has now revealed her identity.

Who is the Facebook whistleblower?

Yesterday, on the popular news show 60 minutes on CBS, the individual revealed her name -- Frances Haugen -- a 37-year old data scientist from Iowa who has worked with companies like Pinterest and Google.

Haugen revealed that despite working with tech giants like Google, Facebook was substantially worse than anything she had ever seen.

What revelations did she make?

In the interview, she revealed that the algorithm that¡¯s being used by Facebook -- what¡¯s responsible for showing the right content on an individual¡¯s News Feed -- was found to easily inspire people to feel anger, than other emotions.

According to Haugen, Facebook has known about it through its own research, however, it also knows that if they toned the algorithm down to make it safer for people, it would make them spend less time on the site, resulting in them clicking on less and eventually making less money.

Also Read: Delete Facebook? Two Ex-WhatsApp Engineers Launch Ad-Free Social Media 'HalloApp'

Haugen also stated that during the 2020 US Presidential Elections, Facebook understood the repercussions that its algorithm can cause, and thus to limit the danger and spread of hatred, turned on the safety systems.

Reuters

However, as soon as the elections were over, Facebook flipped the switch and the algorithm went back to its toxic self, prioritising growth over safety, which to Haugen felt a lot like a ¡°betrayal of democracy.¡± She added that no one at Facebook is malevolent, however, their incentives are misaligned.

Haugen stated, "Facebook makes more money when you consume more content ... And the more anger that they get exposed to, the more they interact, the more they consume."

Also Read: Facebook Wants To Build An Ambitious 'Metaverse', But It's Full Of Challenges

Did Facebook contribute to the January 6th riots on the US Capitol?

While Haugen didn¡¯t explicitly mention that the algorithm was responsible for what caused the riots on the US Capitol on January 6th, the show '60 Minutes' did highlight that several bad actors were active on Facebook.

The connection between Facebook¡¯s algorithm and the act on the US Capitol was dismissed by Facebook¡¯s VP of policy and global affairs, Nick Clegg, terming it as ¡®ludicrous¡¯, in an appearance on CNN.

Reuters

He claimed that it was ¡®false comfort¡¯ to believe that technology was behind America¡¯s widening political polarisation. He also added that the responsibility only lies on the ¡°people who inflicted the violence and those who encouraged them -- including then-president Trump¡±

In a congressional hearing where US lawmakers grilled the social media giant for its impact on young teens, Clegg also pushed back at this assertion.

Moreover, on Saturday, with an intention to do some damage-control beforehand, Clegg penned a 1,500 memo to staff to alert them of the misleading accusations made against them, which was also reported by New York Times.

Also read: Instagram Rolls Out New Anti-Abuse Features Including 'Limits': Details Inside

Social media not for people with pre-existing issues

In the conversation with CNN, Clegg stated that the criticism that it's Facebook that causes societal problems shouldn¡¯t rest squarely at Facebook¡¯s feet.

Reuters

He in fact went ahead to state that people who have pre-existing issues may not benefit from using social media, "I don't think it's intuitively surprising if you're not feeling great about yourself already, that then going on to social media can actually make you feel a bit worse."

Talking about the Instagram research shared by the Wall Street Journal, Clegg commented that it¡¯s not seen in their research or anyone else¡¯s research that Instagram is bad or toxic for all teens while adding that Facebook¡¯s research will continue.

What do you think about the Facebook whistleblower's revelations about the social platform's attitude towards profits vs user safety? Let us know in the comments below, and keep reading Indiatimes.com for the latest in science and technology news.