Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen will say that the social networking giant needs Congress to enforce more transparency from the company when she testifies Tuesday at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.
“I believe that Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy and much more,” she will say, according to prepared remarks.
Haugen, 37, a former product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, said that effective regulation of Facebook would need to start with transparency, including allowing “full access to data for research not directed by Facebook.”
Allowing external researchers to get a look “under the hood” of Facebook would allow for regulators to build “sensible rules and standards to address consumer harms, illegal content, data protection, anticompetitive practices, algorithmic systems and more,” she said.
“As long as Facebook is operating in the dark, it is accountable to no one,” she will say. Haugen previously worked at Google, Pinterest and Yelp.
Haugen will also compared Facebook to Big Tobacco and pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids.
“When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action,” she will say. “When we figured out cars were safer with seat belts, the government took action. And today, the government is taking action against companies that hid evidence on opioids. I implore you to do the same here.”
Tuesday’s hearing, and another one last week that saw senators question Facebook’s head of safety Antigone Davis, were called after the Wall Street Journal reported on leaked internal research that appeared to identify Instagram’s negative effects on children and teens’ mental health.
Facebook said the Wall Street Journal mischaracterized the findings, according to a blog post released 12 days after the article was published.
Prior to the hearing last week, Facebook said it would pause development of a version of Instagram aimed at children following mounting criticism from child safety groups and lawmakers.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
