Congressional Hearing on Facebook Whistleblower: 3 Key Takeaways

The Senate Commerce subcommittee heard testimony from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, who exposed the company's knowledge of the amount of hate, misinformation, and unrest it amplifies and conceals on its social media platforms.

Haugen revealed her identity on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, ahead of a congressional hearing in which she discussed her secretly copying tens of thousands of pages of Facebook's internal research and eventually filing an anonymous complaint with federal law enforcement.

Here is what to know about Haugen’s testimony.

"Big tobacco moment"

Sen. Richard Blumenthal expressed gratitude for Haugen's fortitude in standing up to the powerful tech companies.

The research, according to the Connecticut senator, is a "bombshell," indicating that Facebook and other large tech companies are currently experiencing a "big tobacco moment."

In comparison to how Facebook and tobacco are both addictive and profitable, but ultimately harmful to their users, Blumenthal (D-Conn.) cited the tobacco industry's history of concealing its own harmful research in connection with Haugen's allegations against Facebook.

"The result has been more division"

Haugen addressed the members of the subcommittee, expressing her appreciation for the opportunity to appear before them. In her opening statement, she acknowledged the timing of the outage before discussing what she saw during her tenure with the company.

"Yesterday, we saw Facebook get taken off the Internet. I don’t know why it went down, but I know that for more than 5 hours, Facebook wasn’t used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies," said Haugen.

Haugen detailed to the subcommittee the issues that Facebook executives faced regularly and the cascading effect of their negligent approach to user safety.

"I saw Facebook repeatedly encounter conflicts between its own profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favor of its own profits. The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats, and more combat. In some cases, this dangerous online talk has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people," Haugen said.

She clarified that this was not a political stance on a particular issue affecting a subset of social media users. Facebook is aware of the emotions evoked by divisive content and continues to prioritize company growth over public safety by "buying its profits."

Powerful algorithms exploit teen insecurity

Sen. Blumenthal applauded Haugen for providing Congress with proof of Facebook’s exploitation of teenagers using "powerful algorithms" that heighten insecurities.

In response to a question about how Instagram's algorithm contributes to the escalation of body image issues among teenagers, Haugen stated that Facebook has confirmed that the algorithm can direct users to eating-disorder content.

One study shows that 13.5% of teenage girls say Instagram provokes suicidal thoughts, while 17% of teenage girls say Instagram provokes eating disorders.

According to a statement released by Facebook spokeswoman Lena Pietsch following the hearing, the company disagrees with Haugen's portrayal of the social media platform.

"Despite all this, "we agree on one thing: it’s time to begin to create standard rules for the internet," she said. "It’s been 25 years since the rules for the internet have been updated, and instead of expecting the industry to make societal decisions that belong to legislators, it is time for Congress to act."