Key Sentence:
- A former Facebook team member has told US politicians that the company’s websites and apps are harmful to children’s mental health and fueling divisions in society.
A 37-year-old former product manager turned whistleblower, Facebook Harms Children Francis Haugen, sharply criticized the company at a Senate hearing. Facebook faces increased scrutiny and increased demands for its regulation. Founder Mark Zuckerberg replied that the recent allegations went against the company’s goals. He said many of the allegations were “illogical” and cited Facebook’s efforts to combat malicious content in a letter to staff.
“We care deeply about topics such as safety, well-being, and mental health,” the letter said on its Facebook page. “It’s hard to see a reflection that misrepresents our work and motives. Facebook is the most popular social media site in the world. The company tell it has 2.7 billion monthly active users. In addition, hundreds of millions of people use the company’s other products, including WhatsApp and Instagram.
But it has been criticized on many fronts, from failing to protect consumer privacy to not doing enough to the spread of misinformation.
Facebook is down: Zuckerberg apologizes for the interruption. Six hours without WhatsApp. Haugen told CBS News on Sunday that he had shared several internal documents on Facebook Harms Children with the Wall Street Journal all over the past few weeks. Using the document, the WSJ reports that a study conducted by Instagram showed. That the app could harm girls’ mental health.
This is a topic that Ms. Haugen continued during his testimony on Tuesday. “Company management knows how to make Facebook and Instagram more secure, but they won’t make the necessary changes. Because they put their astronomical profits above people’s,” he said.
He criticized Mark Zuckerberg for comprehensive control and said that “at this time no one but himself holds Mark responsible for it.”
Monika Bickert of Facebook says giving a problem study shows the company is prioritizing security over profit. And he praised the massive disruption in Facebook’s services on Monday affecting users around the world. Yesterday, we saw Facebook take off the Internet,” he said. Destabilize democracy and make young girls and women feel guilty.”
The answer, he told senators, was congressional oversight. “We have to act now,” he said.
Zuckerberg said in a letter that surveys on Instagram were misunderstood and that many young people had positive experiences using the platform. But she said, “It’s essential to me that everything we build is safe and good for children.”