Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is arguing against claims made by a Facebook whistleblower.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before the Senate on Tuesday, where she said, “Mark holds a very unique role in the tech industry in that he holds over 55% of all the voting shares of Facebook. There are no similarly powerful companies that are as unilaterally controlled. And in the end, the buck stops with Mark. There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself,” as IJR reported on.
She also said during a recent “60 Minutes” interview, “Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety.”
Haugen accused Facebook of “optimizing for content that gets engagement, or reaction, but its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing — it’s easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.”
Zuckerberg fired back, writing in a statement on Tuesday, “Many of the claims don’t make any sense.”
He added, “At the heart of these accusations is this idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. That’s just not true.”
The Facebook CEO also wrote:
“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical. We make 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 any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed. The moral, business and product incentives all point in the opposite direction.”
Check out his post below:
Zuckerberg noted that he is “particularly focused on the questions raised about our work with kids,” adding, “When it comes to young people’s health or well-being, every negative experience matters.”
“If we’re going to have an informed conversation about the effects of social media on young people, it’s important to start with a full picture. We’re committed to doing more research ourselves and making more research publicly available.
That said, I’m worried about the incentives that are being set here. We have an industry-leading research program so that we can identify important issues and work on them. It’s disheartening to see that work taken out of context and used to construct a false narrative that we don’t care.”
He later said, “I believe that over the long term if we keep trying to do what’s right and delivering experiences that improve people’s lives, it will be better for our community and our business. I’ve asked leaders across the company to do deep dives on our work across many areas over the next few days so you can see everything that we’re doing to get there.”
Haugen left Facebook in May. She was hired to join the company’s “Civic Integrity” team. However, she grew “frustrated by what she saw as the company’s lack of openness about its platforms’ potential for harm and unwillingness to address its flaws,” as The Wall Street Journal writes.
She is “responsible for leaking documents behind a Wall Street Journal series,” as The Washington Post writes, and the “60 Minutes” interview is the first time her identity was revealed.
