Facebook, whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before the US Senate: “Instagram is dangerous for the mental health of teenagers”

“I’m here because I believe Facebook products endanger children, weaken ours democracy and produce divisions“. He said this – testifying before the subcommittee on consumer protection of the US Senate – Frances Haugen, the whistleblower of the company who handed over to the supervisory authorities documents e confidential reports then published by Wall Street Journal in the series Facebook files. Including the one that revealed the operation of XCheck, the software that allows the six million users in the “white list” to post content prohibited to mere mortals. Haugen, 37 product manager with a past career in Google and Pinterest, she has raised the alarm about the effects of Instagram on mental health of teenagers (which led to the stop of the “Instagram kids” project) and the diffusion of fake news, asking US parliamentarians to intervene.

This is the first public appearance of the “mole” of Menlo Park after having revealed – last Sunday – his identity. Haugen said he made this choice because he considers Facebook “dangerous” in its current form. Not even the supervisory authorities, he explained, have the necessary information to keep the platform under control and prevent its potential damage. “The top management of the company know how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but they won’t make the necessary changes because they put the astronomical profits in front of people. No authority can address the problem, because Facebook he doesn’t want them to know enough about its causes: otherwise there would have been no need for a whistleblower, ”he explained. “Congress action is needed, they will not solve this crisis without your help. There is no one at the moment who can ask Mark Zuckerberg for responsibility, except himself ”.

The internal research of Mark Zuckerberg’s company – said Haugen during the hearing – shows that the addiction to Instagram “materially damages” the health and school performance of. over 6% of teenagers, causing ailments such as depression, anxiety and anorexia and fueling the bullying: “On Instagram there is no escape, bullies follow children into their homes, into their rooms”. Haugen also explained how, within Facebook, the team responsible for growth often works with opposite goals than the one dealing with security. And how many initiatives put in place by the second have been “undone by new projects for growth that have made the remedies ineffective” studied by the first. At the same time, the spokesperson for Facebook Andy Stone replied on Twitter that “Frances Haugen has not worked on child safety or on Instagram or research on these issues and he has no direct knowledge of it“.

Just pointing out the fact that @FrancesHaugen did not work on child safety or Instagram or research these issues and has no direct knowledge of the topic from her work at Facebook.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) October 5, 2021