Facebook Whistleblower Says Company Chooses Profits Over Users' Safety

By John D. McKinnon

In her prepared testimony, Frances Haugen says Facebook Inc. consistently chooses its own profits over users' safety, and keeps users and regulators in the dark about its actions.

"This is not simply a matter of some social media users being angry or unstable," she says in prepared remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "Facebook became a $1 trillion company by paying for its profits with our safety, including the safety of our children. And that is unacceptable."

Facebook "hides behind walls that keep the eyes of researchers and regulators from understanding the true dynamics of the system. We have to just trust what Facebook says is true-and they have repeatedly proved that they do not deserve our blind faith," she says.

She calls on Congress to act.

"The severity of this crisis demands that we break out of previous regulatory frames," she says. "Tweaks to outdated privacy protections or changes to Section 230 will not be sufficient."

In a written statement, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said, "Every day our teams have to balance protecting the right of billions of people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place. We continue to make significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content. To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true."

Write to John D. McKinnon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2021 09:49 ET (13:49 GMT)

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