Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen Goes Public, Says Facebook Prioritizes Profits Over Safety

The identity of the Facebook whistleblower who released tens of thousands of pages of internal research and documents — leading to a firestorm for the social media company in recent weeks — was revealed on “60 Minutes” Sunday night as Frances Haugen.

The 37-year-old former Facebook product manager who worked on civic integrity issues at the company says the documents show that Facebook knows its platforms are used to spread hate, violence and misinformation, and that the company has tried to hide that evidence.

“The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook, and Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money,” Haugen told “60 Minutes.”

“60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelly quoted one internal Facebook document as saying: “We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech and misinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are affecting societies around the world.”

About a month ago, Haugen filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the company is hiding research about its shortcomings from investors and the public. She also shared the documents with the Wall Street Journal, which published a multi-part investigation showing that Facebook was aware of problems with its apps, including the negative effects of misinformation and the harm caused, especially to young girls, by Instagram.

Who is Frances Haugen?

Frances Haugen is a data scientist from Iowa who spent two years at Facebook, from June 2019 until May of this year. Prior to that, she worked on algorithms at Google, Pinterest, and Yelp. She told “60 Minutes” she was recruited to Facebook and specifically wanted to work on issues around misinformation.

Haugen said the career move was inspired by the loss of a friend to online conspiracies, something she did not want anyone else to go through. Haugen became a whistleblower because “person after person after person has tackled this inside of Facebook and ground themselves into the ground. No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned,” she said.

Who has Haugen shared Facebook internal documents with?

In addition to reporters from The Wall Street Journal and “60 Minutes,” Haugen has met with members of the US Congress, including senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Earlier this month, Blumenthal tweeted that a Facebook whistleblower had approached his office and revealed “Facebook is using big tobacco’s playbook” by “hiding its own research on addiction and the toxic effects of its products.” 

Haugen has spoken with legislators in the UK, France, and the European Parliament as well. The New York Times reports she will testify before the US Congress Tuesday on the harm to young users caused by Facebook’s platforms and will appear before a parliamentary committee in the UK later this month. She has also gone to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, alleging Facebook misled investors about the effectiveness of its strategies and algorithms to mitigate the negative effects of its platforms.

Some of the documents she obtained have also been shared with attorneys general in California, Vermont, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Nebraska. Sunday’s “60 Minutes” interview kicks off a publicity tour that will include the Web Summit, a tech conference in Lisbon, and meetings with European lawmakers in Brussels this fall.

How has Facebook responded?

On Sunday Facebook did not directly address Haugen’s assertions. However, it did dispatch Nick Clegg to CNN’s “Reliable Sources” program. Clegg is a former UK deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats who now serves as a vice president for policy and global affairs at Facebook. Clegg called allegations that ran in The Wall Street Journal last month “misleading” and asserted the company seeks to “mitigate the bad, reduce it and amplify the good,” the opposite of what Haugen clams defined her experience at the company.

The show preempted Haugen’s “60 Minutes” interview by several hours Sunday. The New York Times reports Clegg also sent out a 1,500-word memo late last week to Facebook employees outlining what it believed would air on “60 Minutes”.