a322x1n
2021-10-04 16:36:09 UTC
<https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/9-horrifying-facts-from-the-fa
cebook-whistleblower-s-new-60-minutes-interview/ar-AAP6rNV?ocid=msedgdhp&
pc=U531>
<https://tinyurl.com/2wjhh4hj>
Note: For a civilized alternative to Facebook, go to:
<https://www.quora.com>
9 Horrifying Facts From the Facebook Whistleblower's New 60 Minutes
Interview. Matt Novak, 12 hrs ago.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published internal research from
Facebook showing that the social media company knows precisely how toxic
its own product is for the people who use it. But tonight, we learned
how the Journal obtained those documents: A whistleblower named Frances
Haugen, who spoke with CBS News 60 Minutes about the ways Facebook is
poisoning society.
The 37-year-old whistleblower liberated tens of thousands of pages of
documents from Facebook and even plans to testify to Congress at some
point this week. Haugen has filed at least eight complaints with the SEC
alleging that Facebook has lied to shareholders about its own product.
Fundamentally, Haugen alleges theres a key conflict between whats good
for Facebook and whats good for society at large. At the end of the
day, things that are good for Facebook tend to be bad for the world we
live in, according to Haugen. Weve pulled out some of the most
interesting tidbits from Sundays interview that highlight this central
point.
1) Facebooks algorithm intentionally shows users things to make them
angry Haugen explained to 60 Minutes how Facebooks algorithm chooses
content thats likely to make users angry because that causes the most
engagement. And user engagement is what Facebook turns into ad dollars.
Its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is
divisive, that is polarizing, its easier to inspire people to anger
than it is to other emotions, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer,
people will spend less time on the site, theyll click on less ads,
theyll make less money, Haugen continued.
2) Facebook is worse than most other social media companies
Whenever we talk about social media and the ways its harmed society, a
lot of Big Tech companies get lumped in together, whether its Twitter
or YouTube or Pinterest. But, according to Haugen, Facebook is uniquely
awful.
Ive seen a bunch of social networks and it was substantially worse at
Facebook than anything Id seen before, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
Haugen previously worked at Pinterest and Google, and insists that
Facebook really is worse than the rest of Big Tech in substantial ways.
3) Facebook dissolved its Civic Integrity unit after the 2020 election
and before the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection Haugen worked at the
so-called Civic Integrity unit of Facebook, in charge of combating
political misinformation on the platform. But the social media company
seemed to think they were in the clear after the U.S. presidential
election in November 2020 and that Civic Integrity could be shut down.
They told us, Were dissolving Civic Integrity. Like, they basically
said, Oh good, we made it through the election. There wasnt riots. We
can get rid of Civic Integrity now. Fast forward a couple months, we
got the insurrection, Haugen said.
Its important to remember that Facebook isnt just destroying American
democracy, its chipping away at democratic institutions all around the
world.
4) Political parties in Europe ran negative ads because it was the only
way to reach people on Facebook One of the documents Haugen smuggled out
of the company shows that political parties in Europe had to start
running negative ads to get any engagement on Facebook.
Summarizing the position of political parties in Europe, Haugen
explained, You are forcing us to take positions that we dont like,
that we know are bad for society. We know if we dont take those
positions, we wont win in the marketplace of social media.
5) Facebook only identifies a tiny fraction of hate and misinformation
on the platform Facebooks internal research shows that it identifies
roughly; 3-5% of hate on the platform and less than 1% of violence and
incitement, according to one of the studies leaked by Haugen. And yet
Facebook still considers itself to be the best in the world at
identifying hate and incitement on social media.
Facebook takes issue with this characterization, naturally. In fact, the
company seems to think the real problem is the internet itself, at
least, according to a statement the company sent Gizmodo on Sunday
night.
If any research had identified an exact solution to these complex
challenges, the tech industry, governments, and society would have
solved them a long time ago, a spokesperson for Facebook told Gizmodo.
We have a strong track record of using our research as well as
external research and close collaboration with experts and organizations
to inform changes to our apps.
6) Instagram is making kids miserable
Facebook owns Intagram, and as 60 Minutes points out, the documents
leaked by Haugen show that 13.5% of teen girls say Instagram makes
thoughts of sucide worse, and 17% say it makes their eating disorders
worse.
Whats super tragic is Facebooks own research says, as these young
women begin to consume this this eating disorder content, they get more
and more depressed. And it actually makes them use the app more. And so,
they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and
more, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
And thats all part of the business model. Facebook is making lots and
lots of money from this misery. But Facebook obviously has a different
take.
We do internal research to ask hard questions and find out how we can
best improve the experience for teens and we will continue doing this
work to improve Instagram and all of our apps. It is not accurate that
leaked internal research demonstrates Instagram is toxic for teen
girls, Lena Pietsch, Director of Policy Communications, told Gizmodo
via email.
The research actually demonstrated that many teens we heard from feel
that using Instagram helps them when they are struggling with the kinds
of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced. This research,
like external research on these issues, found teens report having both
positive and negative experiences with social media, Pietsch continued.
7) Employees at Facebook arent necessarily evil, they just have
perverse incentives Haugen says that the people who work at Facebook
arent bad people, which seems like the kind of thing someone who
previously worked at Facebook might say.
No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned,
right? Haugen insists. Like, Facebook makes more money when you
consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an
emotional reaction. And the more anger that they get exposed to, the
more they interact and the more they consume.
And while its easy to see why Haugen might believe no one at Facebook
is malevolent, thats quite a bold claim at this point. Facebooks
negative impact on society isnt exactly a secret here in the 2020s.
Again, Facebook doesnt see it that way.
Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our
profits, Lena Pietsch told Gizmodo via email Sunday night. To say we
turn a blind eye to feedback ignores these investments, including the
40,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook and our
investment of $13 billion since 2016.
8) Haugen even has empathy for Zuck for some stupid reason
I have a lot of empathy for Mark. And Mark has never set out to make a
hateful platform. But he has allowed choices to be made where the side
effects of those choices are that hateful, polarizing content gets more
distribution and more reach, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
But as Haugen herself said, it doesnt really matter whether Zuckerberg
set out to make a hateful platform. In reality, he set out to make a
website for rating the hotness of women, but thats really neither here
nor there. What matters is how the platform is being used and abused
today.
9) Haugen believes shes covered by whistleblower laws, but well see
When 60 Minutes talked with Haugens lawyer, John Tye, who works with
whistleblowers, we heard about how the law protects people who talk with
the SEC.
The Dodd-Frank Act, passed over ten years ago at this point, created an
Office of the Whistleblower inside the SEC. And one of the provisions of
that law says that no company can prohibit its employees from
communicating with the SEC and sharing internal corporate documents with
the SEC, Tye told 60 Minutes.
And while Dodd-Frank hypothetically protects employees talking with the
SEC, it doesnt necessarily protect people talking with journalists and
taking thousands of pages of documents. But were going to find out
pretty quickly just how much protection whistleblowers actually get in
the U.S. Historically, lets just say the answer has been not much.
Update, 11:50 p.m.: Updated with comments from Facebook.
cebook-whistleblower-s-new-60-minutes-interview/ar-AAP6rNV?ocid=msedgdhp&
pc=U531>
<https://tinyurl.com/2wjhh4hj>
Note: For a civilized alternative to Facebook, go to:
<https://www.quora.com>
9 Horrifying Facts From the Facebook Whistleblower's New 60 Minutes
Interview. Matt Novak, 12 hrs ago.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published internal research from
Facebook showing that the social media company knows precisely how toxic
its own product is for the people who use it. But tonight, we learned
how the Journal obtained those documents: A whistleblower named Frances
Haugen, who spoke with CBS News 60 Minutes about the ways Facebook is
poisoning society.
The 37-year-old whistleblower liberated tens of thousands of pages of
documents from Facebook and even plans to testify to Congress at some
point this week. Haugen has filed at least eight complaints with the SEC
alleging that Facebook has lied to shareholders about its own product.
Fundamentally, Haugen alleges theres a key conflict between whats good
for Facebook and whats good for society at large. At the end of the
day, things that are good for Facebook tend to be bad for the world we
live in, according to Haugen. Weve pulled out some of the most
interesting tidbits from Sundays interview that highlight this central
point.
1) Facebooks algorithm intentionally shows users things to make them
angry Haugen explained to 60 Minutes how Facebooks algorithm chooses
content thats likely to make users angry because that causes the most
engagement. And user engagement is what Facebook turns into ad dollars.
Its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is
divisive, that is polarizing, its easier to inspire people to anger
than it is to other emotions, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer,
people will spend less time on the site, theyll click on less ads,
theyll make less money, Haugen continued.
2) Facebook is worse than most other social media companies
Whenever we talk about social media and the ways its harmed society, a
lot of Big Tech companies get lumped in together, whether its Twitter
or YouTube or Pinterest. But, according to Haugen, Facebook is uniquely
awful.
Ive seen a bunch of social networks and it was substantially worse at
Facebook than anything Id seen before, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
Haugen previously worked at Pinterest and Google, and insists that
Facebook really is worse than the rest of Big Tech in substantial ways.
3) Facebook dissolved its Civic Integrity unit after the 2020 election
and before the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection Haugen worked at the
so-called Civic Integrity unit of Facebook, in charge of combating
political misinformation on the platform. But the social media company
seemed to think they were in the clear after the U.S. presidential
election in November 2020 and that Civic Integrity could be shut down.
They told us, Were dissolving Civic Integrity. Like, they basically
said, Oh good, we made it through the election. There wasnt riots. We
can get rid of Civic Integrity now. Fast forward a couple months, we
got the insurrection, Haugen said.
Its important to remember that Facebook isnt just destroying American
democracy, its chipping away at democratic institutions all around the
world.
4) Political parties in Europe ran negative ads because it was the only
way to reach people on Facebook One of the documents Haugen smuggled out
of the company shows that political parties in Europe had to start
running negative ads to get any engagement on Facebook.
Summarizing the position of political parties in Europe, Haugen
explained, You are forcing us to take positions that we dont like,
that we know are bad for society. We know if we dont take those
positions, we wont win in the marketplace of social media.
5) Facebook only identifies a tiny fraction of hate and misinformation
on the platform Facebooks internal research shows that it identifies
roughly; 3-5% of hate on the platform and less than 1% of violence and
incitement, according to one of the studies leaked by Haugen. And yet
Facebook still considers itself to be the best in the world at
identifying hate and incitement on social media.
Facebook takes issue with this characterization, naturally. In fact, the
company seems to think the real problem is the internet itself, at
least, according to a statement the company sent Gizmodo on Sunday
night.
If any research had identified an exact solution to these complex
challenges, the tech industry, governments, and society would have
solved them a long time ago, a spokesperson for Facebook told Gizmodo.
We have a strong track record of using our research as well as
external research and close collaboration with experts and organizations
to inform changes to our apps.
6) Instagram is making kids miserable
Facebook owns Intagram, and as 60 Minutes points out, the documents
leaked by Haugen show that 13.5% of teen girls say Instagram makes
thoughts of sucide worse, and 17% say it makes their eating disorders
worse.
Whats super tragic is Facebooks own research says, as these young
women begin to consume this this eating disorder content, they get more
and more depressed. And it actually makes them use the app more. And so,
they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and
more, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
And thats all part of the business model. Facebook is making lots and
lots of money from this misery. But Facebook obviously has a different
take.
We do internal research to ask hard questions and find out how we can
best improve the experience for teens and we will continue doing this
work to improve Instagram and all of our apps. It is not accurate that
leaked internal research demonstrates Instagram is toxic for teen
girls, Lena Pietsch, Director of Policy Communications, told Gizmodo
via email.
The research actually demonstrated that many teens we heard from feel
that using Instagram helps them when they are struggling with the kinds
of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced. This research,
like external research on these issues, found teens report having both
positive and negative experiences with social media, Pietsch continued.
7) Employees at Facebook arent necessarily evil, they just have
perverse incentives Haugen says that the people who work at Facebook
arent bad people, which seems like the kind of thing someone who
previously worked at Facebook might say.
No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned,
right? Haugen insists. Like, Facebook makes more money when you
consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an
emotional reaction. And the more anger that they get exposed to, the
more they interact and the more they consume.
And while its easy to see why Haugen might believe no one at Facebook
is malevolent, thats quite a bold claim at this point. Facebooks
negative impact on society isnt exactly a secret here in the 2020s.
Again, Facebook doesnt see it that way.
Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our
profits, Lena Pietsch told Gizmodo via email Sunday night. To say we
turn a blind eye to feedback ignores these investments, including the
40,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook and our
investment of $13 billion since 2016.
8) Haugen even has empathy for Zuck for some stupid reason
I have a lot of empathy for Mark. And Mark has never set out to make a
hateful platform. But he has allowed choices to be made where the side
effects of those choices are that hateful, polarizing content gets more
distribution and more reach, Haugen told 60 Minutes.
But as Haugen herself said, it doesnt really matter whether Zuckerberg
set out to make a hateful platform. In reality, he set out to make a
website for rating the hotness of women, but thats really neither here
nor there. What matters is how the platform is being used and abused
today.
9) Haugen believes shes covered by whistleblower laws, but well see
When 60 Minutes talked with Haugens lawyer, John Tye, who works with
whistleblowers, we heard about how the law protects people who talk with
the SEC.
The Dodd-Frank Act, passed over ten years ago at this point, created an
Office of the Whistleblower inside the SEC. And one of the provisions of
that law says that no company can prohibit its employees from
communicating with the SEC and sharing internal corporate documents with
the SEC, Tye told 60 Minutes.
And while Dodd-Frank hypothetically protects employees talking with the
SEC, it doesnt necessarily protect people talking with journalists and
taking thousands of pages of documents. But were going to find out
pretty quickly just how much protection whistleblowers actually get in
the U.S. Historically, lets just say the answer has been not much.
Update, 11:50 p.m.: Updated with comments from Facebook.
