Bermuda Post

Sunday, Mar 26, 2023

Facebook promotes hate to make money, whistleblower claims

Facebook promotes hate to make money, whistleblower claims

The social media giant knows hate speech is a problem. It also knows it's profitable, a former employee claimed on Sunday.

Facebook's business model promotes hate speech, damages democracy and is even "tearing our societies apart," a former product manager of the company's civic misinformation team has said.

Frances Haugen, who left Facebook in May this year, was the whistleblower who leaked internal company research - including reports that reveal Instagram's impact on teenage girls' mental health - to the Wall Street Journal last month.

Speaking to American TV network CBS on Sunday, Haugen said that her experience working for Facebook revealed a company that prioritised growth over making its product safer.

"The thing I saw over and over again was that there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook," Haugen told CBS's 60 Minutes.

"Facebook over and over again chose to optimise for its own interests, like making more money," she said.

'Betrayal of democracy'


Haugen joined Facebook in June 2019, working on a team tasked with tackling misinformation around elections.

In the run-up to the United States' presidential elections in November 2020, Facebook announced a raft of measures it said would help connect voters to accurate information and reduce "the risks of post-election confusion".

Shortly after the election took place, however, the team was dissolved.

Haugen claimed Facebook then rolled back many of the interventions it had put in place to limit the spread of misinformation.

"As soon as the election was over, they turned them back off or they changed the settings back to what they were before, to prioritise growth over safety," Haugen said.

"And that really feels like a betrayal of democracy to me".

Capitol riot 'not our fault', Facebook says


In Sunday's interview, Haugen drew a connection between Facebook and the US Capitol riots on January 6, when supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the seat of the American legislature.

She said that she did not trust the company to "invest what actually needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous".

Facebook's Nick Clegg said it was "ludicrous" to pin the blame for the January 6 Capitol riot on social media companies


Speaking before Haugen's interview was broadcast, Facebook's vice president of policy and global affairs Nick Clegg told CNN that the company did not accept that it was one of the main contributors to political polarisation in the US.

"The insurrection on that day lies squarely with the people who inflicted the violence and those who encouraged them, including President Trump," Clegg said, adding that it was "ludicrous" to pin the blame on social media.

"I think it gives people false confidence to assume that there must be a technological or a technical explanation for the issues of political polarisation in the United States ... It's too easy to say it's Facebook's fault".

Failing to fight hate


According to Facebook documents provided to CBS by Haugen, the company is aware both of the spread of hate speech on its platforms, and also of how challenging a problem it poses.

"We estimate that we may action as little as 3-5 per cent of hate and ~0.6 per cent of V&I [Violence and Incitement] on Facebook despite being the best in the world at it," one internal report said.

"We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and misinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are affecting societies around the world," said another.

According to Haugen, fixing Facebook's hate speech problem could take more than heavier content moderation and stricter rules.

'It's easier to inspire anger'


A 2018 change to the algorithm that decides which pieces of content are shown to users inadvertently ended up giving Facebook users information that was more likely to trigger an angry response, Haugen told CBS.

"[Facebook] is optimising for content that gets engagement, a reaction," she said.

"But its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarising - it's easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions".

Haugen's leaks have prompted condemnation from lawmakers in the US, where Facebook has been called to testify before a Senate committee


Haugen alleged that the company was unwilling to change the algorithm as it could impact the business's bottom line.

"Facebook has realised that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on less ads, they'll make less money," she said.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations she levelled at the company, Haugen said she empathised with Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned," she said.

"Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an emotional reaction, and the more anger they get exposed to, the more they interact and the more they consume".

Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
Close
0:00
0:00
In a dramatic U-turn against His Government: Judicial Overhaul Legislation Must Be Halted, Says Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman tours potential migrant housing in Rwanda as asylum deal remains mired in legal challenges
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
Jeremy Hunt insists his Budget will get young parents and over-50s back into work
If this was in Tehran, Moscow or Hong Kong
Nashville police officer, and a female driver shooting one another
TRUMP: "Standing before you today, I am the only candidate who can make this promise: I will prevent World War III."
Mexican President Claims Mexico is Safer than the U.S.
A brief banking situation report
Lady bites police officer and gets instantly reaction
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
'No relation to the American SVB': India's SVC Bank acts to calm depositors amid brand name confusion.
Good news: The U.S. government is now guaranteeing all deposits, held by, Silicon Valley Bank, and the funds are available as of today
Silicon Valley Bank exec was Lehman Brothers CFO
In a potential last-ditch effort, HSBC is considering a rescue deal to save Silicon Valley Bank UK from insolvency
BBC Director General, Tim Davie, has apologized, but not resigned, yet, following the disruption of sports programmes over the weekend
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
A primitive judge in Australia sparked outrage when he told a breastfeeding woman to leave his courtroom for being “a distraction"
Barcelona is feeling the heat as they face corruption charges over payments to former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
Senator Tom Cotton: If the Mexican Government Won’t Stop Cartels from Killing Americans, Then U.S. Government Should
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Old clip of Bill Gates saying Ukraine is a big, fat, corrupt sinkhole is going viral
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
How do stolen goods end up on Amazon, eBay and Facebook Marketplace?
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Spain officials quit over trains that were too wide for tunnels...
Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, has provided a list of five areas that he believes the black community needs to address.
Hello. Here is our news digest from London.
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
Givenchy Store in New York Robbed of $50,000 in Merchandise
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Former U.S. President Carter will spend his remaining time at home and receive hospice care instead of medication
Tucker Carlson called Trump a 'demonic force'
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
White House: No ETs over the United States
×