- The
Facebook whistleblower will testify leadership "consistently resolved conflicts in favor of profits." - The
Senate hearing follows a series of reports on the social-media giant's most controversial practices. Reuters published her remarks amid an hourslong outage that crippled the company and its subsidiaries.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will tell Congress on Tuesday that the company "consistently resolved conflicts in favor of profits" and "amplifies division, extremism, and polarization," according to a copy of her testimony obtained by Reuters.
"I am here today because I believe that Facebook's products harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy, and much more," Haugen's statement reads.
Reuters published Haugen's remarks amid an hourslong outage that crippled the company and its subsidiaries, including
-davidshepardson (@davidshepardson) October 4, 2021
Facebook's share price tumbled at least 5%, erasing roughly $7 billion from the personal wealth of founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Bloomberg reports.
Haugen's remarks come a day after she revealed her identity through interviews with The Wall Street Journal and CBS's "60 Minutes," following a series of articles in the Journal highlighting some of the social media giant's most controversial practices.
"The company's leadership knows ways to make Facebook and Instagram safer and won't make the necessary changes because they have put their immense profits before people," Haugen will reportedly testify. "Congressional action is needed."
Facebook hired Haugen to help protect the platform against election interference, and she previously worked as a product manager for large tech companies like Google, Pinterest, and Yelp since 2006.
Haugen says she joined the company in 2019 after someone close to her was radicalized online, leading her to seek an opportunity to create a less toxic Facebook.
"I saw that Facebook repeatedly encountered conflicts between its own profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favor of its own profits," her statement reads.
Haugen's statement goes on to draw parallels between the tech company and other large industries that have drawn both new scrutiny and new regulations.
"When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seatbelts, the government took action," Haugen will urge congress tomorrow. "I implore you to do the same here."