Frances Haugen, a former data scientist for Facebook, testified to Congress on Oct. 5 about the tech giant’s negligence of acknowledging its societal harms, particularly to children.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, questioned Haugen about what the company knows about its negative effects on children and teen mental health and well-being. Haugen revealed many of Facebook’s internal research reports show a significant harm on teens and children. Additionally, the company knows its algorithms can lead children from something innocent like seeking out healthy recipes to anorexia-promoting content over a short period of time, Haugen explained.
Ultimately, “the buck stops with Mark [Zuckerberg],” Haugen said. “There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself.”
Zuckerberg holds over 55 percent of all the voting shares at Facebook, which Haugen said is a very “metrics-driven” organization.
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