Facebook Whistleblower Says the Company ‘Over and Over Again’ Has Shown ‘It Chooses Profit Over Safety’

Facebook whistleblower Fances Haugen says while at Facebook she saw “over and over again” that “there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook.” During a “60…

Madison SummersOct 4, 20213 min read

Watch her interview below:

Lena Pietsch, Facebook’s director of policy communications, reacted to the “60 Minutes” report, saying in a statement to CBS News, “Every day our teams have to balance protecting the right of billions of people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place. We continue to make significant improvements to tackle the spread of misinformation and harmful content.”

“To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true,” Pietsch added.

Responding to the claim about the 2018 change to “Meaningful Social Interactions” amplifying polarizing and hateful content, Pietsch said, “The goal of the Meaningful Social Interactions ranking change is in the name: improve people’s experience by prioritizing posts that inspire interactions, particularly conversations, between family and friends — which research shows is better for people’s well-being — and deprioritizing public content.”

Pietsch continued, “Research also shows that polarization has been growing in the United States for decades, long before platforms like Facebook even existed, and that it is decreasing in other countries where Internet and Facebook use has increased. We have our role to play and will continue to make changes consistent with the goal of making people’s experience more meaningful, but blaming Facebook ignores the deeper causes of these issues – and the research.”