Mark Zuckerberg breaks his silence saying whistleblower Frances Haugen's claims against Facebook make no sense. He states that he does not know of any company technologys whose goal is to make products that will make people angry or depressed.
Mark Zuckerberg posted an outspoken defense of his company in a note to Facebook employees, saying that recent allegations by a former employee on the negative effects of the social network on society "do not make sense".
For the record, on Monday, a former Facebook product manager, Frances Haugen, testified before Congress regarding a series of internal documents she gave to The Wall Street Journal. The focus of the hearing was the charge that Facebook, Instagram and What's Up can have a negative effect on young people because the platforms' algorithms make sure to keep users on the services at all costs, even when the developers know that the content it is mentally harmful. That is, that they deliberately anger users for the purpose of profit.
In his answer, Zuckerberg states: “The argument that we purposely promote content that makes people angry for profit is completely absurd. We are winning money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don't want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don't know of any tech company that aims to make products that make people angry or depressed. The moral and business incentives all point in the opposite direction."
Zuckerberg, in his statement, did not once mention the complainant Haugen by her name. He always spoke in the third person using the word ex-employee.
Facebook's internal investigation into the negative effects of Instagram on teenagers, however, has sparked outrage at the company. In his memo to employees, Zuckerberg said the company would continue to investigate and make it public when completed.