Last week, the The Wall Street Journal published an internal investigation of Facebook which showed that the company she knows exactly how toxic her product is to the people who use it.
Tonight, we learned how the Wall Street Journal managed to obtain these documents: An informant named Frances Haugen spoke to CBS News' 60 Minutes about the ways in which Facebook poisons society.
Facebook's algorithm deliberately shows users things that make them angry
Haugen explained in 60 Minutes how Facebook's algorithm selects content that is likely to anger users because it provokes more reactions. User reactions are converted by Facebook into advertising dollars.
"Facebook's research shows that content that is hateful, divisive, polarizing, inspires anger in people rather than other emotions," Haugen told 60 Minutes.
"Το Facebook έχει συνειδητοποιήσει ότι αν αλλάξει τον αλγόριθμο, οι άνθρωποι θα ξοδεύουν λιγότερο χρόνο στον ιστότοπο, θα κάνουν κλικ σε λιγότερες διαφημίσεις, και έτσι θα κερδίζουν λιγότερα χρήματα".
Whenever we talk about social media and the ways in which it harms society, there are many Companies Big Tech να σκεφτούμε (Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest). But, according to Haugen, Facebook is uniquely awful.
"I've seen a bunch of social media, and it's been a lot worse on Facebook," Haugen told 60 Minutes.
Haugen used to work for Pinterest and Google but insists that Facebook is really worse than other Big Tech companies in many ways.
Facebook disbanded Civic Integrity after the 2020 election and before the Capitol Uprising on January 6
Haugen worked on Facebook's Civic Integrity team, which was responsible for combating politics misinformations on the platform. But the company was clear after the US presidential election in November 2020 that Civic Integrity would not be closed.
"They said, 'We're disbanding the Civic Integrity group, and I said, 'Okay, we made it through the election. There were no riots. We can get rid of the group now.'" Two months later, we had the riot,'' Haugen said.
It is important to remember that Facebook is not only destroying American democracy, it is destroying democratic institutions around the world.
Political parties in Europe ran negative ads because it was the only way to reach people on Facebook
One of the documents released by Frances Haugen shows that political parties in Europe had to start running negative ads in order to get more reactions from their Facebook members.
Summarizing the position of political parties in Europe, Haugen explained: "You force us to take positions that we don't like, that we know are bad for society. We know that if we don't take those positions, we won't win in the social media market ".
Facebook detects only a small fraction of hate speech and misinformation on the platform
Facebook's internal research shows that it detects only 3-5% of hate speech rhetoric on the platform and less than 1% of incitement to violence, according to a study leaked by Haugen. And yet Facebook still considers its platform to be the best in the world in detecting hatred and inciting violence on social media.
Instagram sucks kids
Facebook also owns the Intagram platform, and according to 60 Minutes, documents leaked by Haugen show that 13,5% of teenage girls report that Instagram causes suicidal thoughts and 17% say they do the eating habits. their disorders worse.
All of these are part of Facebook's business model that makes a lot of money from this misery. Facebook obviously has a different view.
Facebook employees are not necessarily bad, they just have crooked motives
Haugen reports that the people who work on Facebook are not bad.
"No one at Facebook is malicious, but their motivations are misguided. Like, Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. Employees enjoy engaging with things that evoke emotional reactions. And the more anger there is, the more they interact and the more more they consume".
Haugen understands Zuck for a reason
"I understand Mark, because he never set out to make a platform of hate. But he allowed choices to be made that have hate as a side effect, because polarizing content gets more distribution and more reach."
Haugen believes it is covered by existing laws for whistleblowers
When 60 Minutes spoke to Haugen's lawyer John Tye, who works with whistleblowers, he said there was a law protecting people who speak to the SEC.
"The Dodd-Frank Act, which was passed ten years ago, says that no company can prohibit its employees from communicating with the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and sharing internal company documents," Tye told 60 Minutes.
We will see....
