A damning indictment of Facebook

Facebook has faced tough Congressional hearings in the US and strong public criticism all over the world over various aspects of its functioning, but last week’s testimony of Frances Haugen, a former employee of the social media giant and a whistleblower, at a Senate panel hearing stood out for its directness, authority and credibility. Haugen’s views are important because of her inside knowledge of Facebook, where she served in a senior position, and for the documents she made public. The points she made are important: that Facebook puts profit over moral responsibility, and that its products “harm children, stoke division and weaken democracy.’’ She mentioned the lack of safeguards against the spread of hatred and mischief and gave examples of many such failures of the organisation.

Haugen cited two examples. She said that Facebook removed the safeguards against polarising political content after the 2020 US Presidential elections and that may have been partially responsible for the riots at the Capitol in Washington on January 6. In a reference to India, she said that despite being aware that “RSS users, groups, and pages promote fear-mongering, anti-Muslim narratives”, Facebook could not take action or flag this content, given its “lack of Hindi and Bengali classifiers (hate speech detection algorithms)”. She said that “We have yet to put forth a nomination for designation of this group (RSS) given political sensitivities.” She also blamed Facebook for the mass killings in Myanmar. Haugen said that the company seemed aware of the role it has played in inciting ethnic violence in certain parts of the world. There are documents detailing how Instagram, which Facebook owns, increases notions of shame around the body and depression among teenage girls. She said 20% of young Instagram users are mentally affected negatively.

Haugen’s view is that the company is agnostic about the nature of its content and its impact on users. This could be very damaging for users in the young and sensitive age groups and could create social strife and conflict in societies through divisive and polarising content. Much of this happens because information is commerce, and as Haugen says, the company chooses profit over the public good. Though Haugen was highly critical of Facebook, she had constructive suggestions to improve it. Her views and revelations have come at a time when there are rising demands for greater regulatory scrutiny and control over Facebook. She believes Facebook has the potential for good and should be given a chance to “declare moral bankruptcy and move forward”. Her accent on ethically upgrading technology will also attract much attention.