Here’s how Facebook plays with fake news
Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee preparing to testify before American judges, admits in an interview that social media has chosen to loosen control over fake news to pursue greater profits.
"The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing apart our societies and causing ethnic violence around the world."
This is what Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, hired in 2019 as a computer engineer in charge of data, said in an exclusive interview on CBS aired on the program '60 Minutes'.
"There was a security plan" and controls on hate messages and disinformation that appeared on Facebook, but "after the presidential elections of 2020 something has changed". The algorithms would change and the system would be "less secure".
From that moment – again according to Haugen – the social platform has loosened the censorship of hate messages and the contents that misinformed about the electoral result, ending up favoring the dissemination of messages on alleged fraud.
In yesterday's interview, Frances Haugen revealed her identity as a whistleblower who provided the documents that supported a Wall Street Journal investigation into the harmful effects of Instagram for teenage girls. We remind you that even following that investigation, Facebook put the Instagram Kids project on standby .
Immediate replication of the Menlo Park group.
In a written statement, Facebook defended itself arguing that the company “continues to make significant improvements to counter the spread of disinformation and content that can harm people. Claiming that we encourage content and do nothing to stop it is not true ”.
Haugen is expected in Congress on Tuesday for a deposition titled “Protecting Children Online,” on the company's research on the effect of Instagram on young users.
Additionally, the former Facebook employee's attorneys filed at least eight complaints with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (Sec).
All the details.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR FACEBOOK
Against disinformation and fake news, it's all a matter of algorithm.
As Haugen explained, Facebook showed it could do more to address these issues when it changed content policies for several weeks around the 2020 U.S. election.
But the platform soon reverted to the old algorithms that value "engagement" above all else, Huagen said.
A move he said contributed to the January 6 uprising at the Capitol according to the former Facebook employee.
"Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, click fewer ads, and [Facebook] will earn less," said Haugen.
“There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the audience and what was good for Facebook,” Haugen argued during the '60 Minutes' interview. "And Facebook has chosen over and over to make more money."
“THE DEEP THROAT” OF THE MENLO PARK GROUP
The woman, considered Facebook's mysterious 'deep throat', has come out, who worked as a product manager on Facebook's civic disinformation team, showing her face and sketching a disturbing picture of the platform headed by Mark Zuckerberg.
Haugen, who previously worked at Google and Pinterest, has been on the Facebook team since 2019.
According to the former employee, Facebook lied to the public about the progress being made to crack down on hate speech and disinformation on its platform.
COMPLAINTS TO THE SEC
On Sunday, Haugen's attorney John Tye, founder of the legal non-profit organization Whistleblower Aid,confirmed a New York Times report that some of the internal documents have been shared with attorneys general in several US states including California. Vermont and Tennessee.
Additionally, Tye confirmed the complaints filed with the SEC on the grounds that, as a publicly traded company, Facebook is required not to lie to its investors.
AND THE INTERVIEWS WITH EUROPEAN LEGISLATORS …
Additionally, lawyer Tye said Haugen has also spoken to lawmakers in Europe and is expected to appear before the UK parliament later this month.
… AND ASIANS
Haugen is also aiming to reach an interview with the legislators of Asian countries, as many of the issues that motivated Haugen come from the region, including ethnic violence in Myanmar, Tye added.
ABOUT INSTAGRAM
But the accusations of the informant Haugen also extend to Instagram, the other social platform owned by Facebook.
"Facebook amplifies the worst in human beings – said Haugen – and this attitude has spread to Instagram".
Regarding Instagram, the IT engineer argued that it dramatically impacts teenagers. Internal Facebook research found that Instagram was impacting teen mental health, but did not share its findings when they suggested the platform was a "toxic" place for many young people.
And it was Haugen who passed Facebook's internal searches on Instagram and not just the Wall Street Journal .
According to slides reported by the Journal , 32% of teenage girls surveyed said that when they felt bad about their body, Instagram made them feel worse.
SUSPENDED INSTAGRAM KIDS
Last week Facebook announced that it will be suspending the launch of Instagram Kids, a version of its popular photo-sharing app designed specifically for children under 13.
The Menlo Park group made this decision in the wake of criticism of Instagram's negative effect on younger users following the Journal's report.
THE REPLICA OF FACEBOOK
Finally, Facebook responded to the allegations.
On Sunday, the group founded by Zuckerberg released a statement challenging Haugen's arguments in the TV interview.
"We continue to make significant improvements to address the spread of misinformation and harmful content," said Facebook spokeswoman Lena Pietsch. "To suggest encouraging poor content and doing nothing is just plain false."
Prior to the 60 Minutes interview, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg told CNN that it was "ridiculous" to claim that January 6 occurred due to social media.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-come-facebook-si-balocca-con-le-fake-news/ on Mon, 04 Oct 2021 09:27:20 +0000.