LONDON (AP) \u2014 Former Facebook data scientist turned\u00a0whistleblower Frances Haugen\u00a0on Monday told lawmakers in the United Kingdom working on legislation to rein in social media companies that the company is making online hate and extremism worse and outlined how it could improve online safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haugen appeared before a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the British government\u2019s draft legislation to crack down on harmful online content, and her comments could help lawmakers beef up the rules. She\u2019s testifying the same day that Facebook is set to release its latest earnings and that The Associated Press and other news organizations\u00a0started publishing stories\u00a0based on thousands of pages of internal company documents she obtained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haugen told U.K. lawmakers how Facebook Groups amplifies online hate, saying algorithms that prioritize engagement take people with mainstream interests and push them to the extremes. She said the company could add moderators to prevent groups from being used to spread extremist views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnquestionably, it\u2019s making hate worse,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haugen added that she was \u201cshocked to hear recently that\u00a0Facebook wants to double down on the metaverse\u00a0and that they\u2019re gonna hire 10,000 engineers in Europe to work on the metaverse,\u201d Haugen said, referring to the company\u2019s plans for an immersive online world it believes will be the next big internet trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018Wow, do you know what we could have done with safety if we had 10,000 more engineers?\u2019 It would be amazing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s her second appearance before lawmakers after she\u00a0testified in the U.S. Senate\u00a0earlier this month about the danger she says the company poses, from harming children to inciting political violence and fueling misinformation. Haugen cited internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebook\u2019s civic integrity unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The documents, which Haugen provided to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, allege Facebook prioritized profits over safety and hid its own research from investors and the public. Some stories based on the files have already been published, exposing internal turmoil after\u00a0Facebook was blindsided by the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot\u00a0and how it\u00a0dithered over curbing divisive content in India, and more is to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has disputed Haugen\u2019s portrayal of the company as one that puts profit over the well-being of its users or that pushes divisive content, saying a false picture is being painted. But he does agree on the need for updated internet regulations, saying lawmakers are best able to assess the tradeoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haugen has told U.S. lawmakers that she thinks a federal regulator is needed to oversee digital giants like Facebook, something that officials in Britain and the European Union are already working on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.K. government\u2019s online safety bill calls for setting up a regulator that would hold companies to account when it comes to removing harmful or illegal content from their platforms, such as terrorist material or child sex abuse images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is quite a big moment,\u201d Damian Collins, the lawmaker who chairs the committee, said ahead of the hearing. \u201cThis is a moment, sort of like Cambridge Analytica, but possibly bigger in that I think it provides a real window into the soul of these companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collins was referring to the 2018 debacle involving data-mining firm Cambridge Analytica, which gathered details on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representatives from Facebook and other social media companies plan to speak to the committee Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the hearing, Haugen met the father of Molly Russell, a 14-year-old girl who killed herself in 2017 after viewing disturbing content on Facebook-owned Instagram.\u00a0In a chat filmed by the BBC, Ian Russell told Haugen that after Molly\u2019s death, her family found notes she wrote about being addicted to Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haugen also is scheduled to meet next month with European Union officials in Brussels, where the bloc\u2019s executive commission is updating its digital rulebook to better protect internet users by holding online companies more responsible for illegal or dangerous content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the U.K. rules, expected to take effect next year, Silicon Valley giants face an ultimate penalty of up to 10% of their global revenue for any violations. The EU is proposing a similar penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.K. committee will be hoping to hear more from Haugen about the data that tech companies have gathered. Collins said the internal files that Haugen has turned over to U.S. authorities are important because it shows the kind of information that Facebook holds \u2014 and what regulators should be asking when they investigate these companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The committee has already heard from another Facebook whistleblower, Sophie Zhang, who raised the alarm after finding evidence of online political manipulation in countries such as Honduras and Azerbaijan before she was fired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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