Frances Hogen, a former manager at Facebook who received whistleblower status after publishing internal documents from the company, said before the US Congress that the social network giant's products harm children and encourage division while management refuses to implement changes because it puts profit before safety.
In her testimony before the Senate Committee on Consumer Protection, Hogen accused the company of being aware of the obvious harm it causes to certain teenagers through Instagram and of not being sincere in its public fight against hate and misinformation.
"I'm here today because I believe Facebook's products are harming children, fueling division and weakening our democracy," said Hogen, who worked at Facebook as a product manager on the civic integrity team.
"Right now there is no one who can hold Mark Zuckerberg accountable. There is no one above Mark," she said at a hearing held a day after Facebook and other platforms, including Instagram, were blocked for several hours.
"Facebook was offline. I don't know why it was blocked, but I know that for more than five hours, Facebook was not used to deepen divisions, destabilize democracies, and that it did not influence young girls and women to feel bad about their appearance."
The committee is investigating how Facebook acted on the results of an internal study conducted by the company on the impact of Instagram, which indicate the potential harm that the platform causes to young users, especially girls. Research has shown that among some teenagers who follow the popular photo-sharing platform, peer pressure leads to mental health problems, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts.
Hogen first came forward anonymously with the allegations against Facebook, backed up by tens of thousands of pages of internal documents she secretly copied before leaving her job on the civil integrity team. After recent reports in the Wall Street Journal based on documents passed on to the list went public, she revealed on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday night that she was behind the leak.
Articles in the "Wall Street Journal" stated that the company contributed to polarization by changing content algorithms, that it did not take steps to combat anti-vaccination and that it is aware that Instagram harms the mental health of teenage girls.
"There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook," Hogen said during an interview with CBS. "And Facebook chose its interests and earnings again and again."
In her testimony before the senators, the former manager said that "today, no regulatory agency has a solution on how to fix Facebook, because Facebook did not want them to know enough about the cause of the problem. Otherwise, there would be no need for a whistleblower".
She also said Facebook had not done enough to prevent people planning violence from using the site. Facebook was used by people who planned mass murders in Myanmar as well as participants in violent protests on January 6 in Washington, Reuters reminds.
"The version of Facebook that exists today divides our societies and causes ethnic violence all over the world," said Hogen, who received whistleblower status.
Facebook spokesman Kevin McAllister stated in an email before the hearing that the company considers the protection of its community more important than profit and pointed out that it is not true that leaked data related to internal research shows that Instagram is "toxic" for teenage girls.
In an era when bipartisanship is a rarity on Capitol Hill, US lawmakers from both parties agreed that big changes are needed at Facebook.
"This is an internal Facebook investigation. So they knew what they were doing, they knew there were violations and they were guilty. "Facebook is not interested in making significant changes to improve the safety of children on the platforms, even if it would result in the loss of users or a decrease in revenue," said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee.
In an opening statement before the hearing, presiding Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said that Facebook knows that their products are addictive, like cigarettes.
"Technology companies are now facing the moment of truth that the tobacco industry faced," he said and invited Zuckerberg to testify before the committee.
"Our children are victims. Teenagers today feel insecure and dissatisfied when they look in the mirror. Mark Zuckerberg should look in the mirror, Blumenthal said, adding that "Zuckerberg went sailing instead."
The whistleblower's revelations represent one of the biggest threats to Facebook since the Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018. Analysts, as reported by the AP agency, claim that dissatisfaction within both parties in the US this time could be enough for lawmakers in Washington to take action against Facebook and other applications whose target is children.
During the hearing, Senator Edward Markey addressed Zuckerberg and said: "It's over with your invasion of our privacy and your stalking of children. Congress will take action”.
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