Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen delivers opening statement — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00for the opportunity to appear before you
2. 0:03my name is frances haugen
3. 0:05i used to work at facebook
4. 0:07i joined facebook because i think
5. 0:09facebook has the potential to bring out
6. 0:11the best in us
7. 0:13but i'm here today because i believe
8. 0:15facebook's products harm children stoke
9. 0:17division and weaken our democracy
10. 0:20the company's leadership knows how to
11. 0:22make facebook and instagram safer but
12. 0:25won't make the necessary changes because
13. 0:26they have put their astronomical profits
14. 0:29before people
15. 0:31congressional action is needed
16. 0:33they won't solve this crisis without
17. 0:35your help
18. 0:37yesterday we saw facebook get taken off
19. 0:39the internet
20. 0:41i don't know why i went down but i know
21. 0:43that for more than five hours facebook
22. 0:45wasn't used to deepen divides
23. 0:48destabilize democracies and make young
24. 0:50girls and women feel bad about their
25. 0:52bodies
26. 0:53it also means that millions of small
27. 0:56businesses weren't able to reach
28. 0:57potential customers
29. 0:59and countless photos of new babies
30. 1:01weren't joyously celebrated by family
31. 1:03and friends around the world
32. 1:05i believe
33. 1:06in the potential of facebook
34. 1:08we can have social media we enjoy that
35. 1:12connects us
36. 1:13without tearing our democracy apart our
37. 1:15democracy putting our children in danger
38. 1:17and sewing ethnic violence around the
39. 1:19world
40. 1:20we can do better
41. 1:23i have worked as a product manager at
42. 1:25large tech companies since 2006
43. 1:27including google pinterest yelp and
44. 1:29facebook
45. 1:31my job has largely focused on
46. 1:32algorithmic products like google plus
47. 1:34search and recommendation systems like
48. 1:37the one that powers the facebook news
49. 1:38feed having worked on four different
50. 1:41types of social networks
51. 1:43i understand how complex and nuanced
52. 1:45these problems are
53. 1:48however
54. 1:49the choices being made inside of
55. 1:50facebook are disastrous
56. 1:52for our children for our public safety
57. 1:55for our privacy and for our democracy
58. 1:58and that is why we must demand facebook
59. 2:00make changes
60. 2:02during my time at facebook first working
61. 2:04as the lead product manager for civic
62. 2:06misinformation and later on counter
63. 2:08espionage
64. 2:10i saw facebook repeatedly encounter
65. 2:12conflicts between its own profits and
66. 2:14our safety
67. 2:15facebook consistently resolved these
68. 2:17conflicts in favor of its own profits
69. 2:21the result has been more division more
70. 2:23harm
71. 2:24more lies more threats and more combat
72. 2:27in some cases this is this dangerous
73. 2:30online talk has led to actual violence
74. 2:32that harms and even kills people
75. 2:35this is not simply a matter of certain
76. 2:37social media users being angry or
77. 2:39unstable
78. 2:40or about one side being radicalized
79. 2:42against the other
80. 2:43it is about facebook choosing to grow at
81. 2:46all costs becoming an almost trillion
82. 2:49dollar company
83. 2:50by buying its profits with our safety
84. 2:54during my time at facebook i came to
85. 2:56realize a devastating truth
86. 2:58almost no one outside of facebook knows
87. 3:00what happens inside of facebook
88. 3:03the company intentionally hides vital
89. 3:05information from the public from the us
90. 3:07government and from governments around
91. 3:09the world
92. 3:10the documents i have provided to
93. 3:11congress prove that facebook has
94. 3:13repeatedly misled the public
95. 3:15about what its own research reveals
96. 3:17about the safety of children
97. 3:19the efficacy of its artificial
98. 3:21intelligence systems and its role in
99. 3:23spreading divisive and extreme messages
100. 3:26i came forward because i believe that
101. 3:28every human being
102. 3:29deserves the dignity of the truth
103. 3:32the severity of this crisis demands that
104. 3:35we break out of our previous regulatory
105. 3:37frames
106. 3:38facebook wants to trick you into
107. 3:39thinking that privacy protections or
108. 3:42changes to section 230 alone will be
109. 3:44sufficient
110. 3:45while important these will not get to
111. 3:47the core of the issue which is that no
112. 3:49one truly understands the destructive
113. 3:51choices made by facebook
114. 3:53except facebook
115. 3:55we can afford nothing less than full
116. 3:57transparency
117. 3:59as long as facebook is operating in the
118. 4:01shadows hiding its research from public
119. 4:03scrutiny it is unaccountable
120. 4:06until the incentives change
121. 4:09facebook will not change
122. 4:12left alone facebook will continue to
123. 4:14make choices that go against the common
124. 4:16good
125. 4:17our common good
126. 4:19when we realized big tobacco was hiding
127. 4:21the harms it caused the government took
128. 4:23action
129. 4:25when we figured out cars were safer with
130. 4:26seat belts the government took action
131. 4:30and when our government learned that
132. 4:31opioids were taking lives the government
133. 4:33took action
134. 4:35i implore you to do the same here
135. 4:38today facebook shapes our perception of
136. 4:39the world by choosing the information we
137. 4:42see
138. 4:42even those who don't use facebook are
139. 4:44impacted by the majority who do
140. 4:47a company with such frightening
141. 4:48influence over so many people
142. 4:50over their deepest thoughts feelings and
143. 4:52behavior needs real
144. 4:54oversight but facebook's closed design
145. 4:59means it has no real oversight
146. 5:02only facebook knows how it personalizes
147. 5:04your feed for you
148. 5:05at other large tech companies like
149. 5:07google
150. 5:08any independent researcher can download
151. 5:10from the internet
152. 5:12the company's search results and write
153. 5:14papers about what they find
154. 5:15and they do
155. 5:17but facebook hides behind walls that
156. 5:19keeps researchers and regulators from
157. 5:21understanding the true dynamics of their
158. 5:23system facebook will tell you privacy
159. 5:26means they can't give you data
160. 5:28this is not true
161. 5:30when tobacco companies claimed that
162. 5:32filtered cigarettes were safer for
163. 5:34consumers
164. 5:35scientists could independently
165. 5:37invalidate these marketing messages
166. 5:40and confirm that in fact they posed a
167. 5:42greater threat to human health
168. 5:44the public cannot do the same with
169. 5:46facebook we are given no other option
170. 5:49than to take their marketing messages on
171. 5:51blind faith
172. 5:53not only does the company hide most of
173. 5:55its own data
174. 5:56my disclosure has proved that when
175. 5:58facebook is directly asked questions as
176. 6:00important as
177. 6:02how do you impact the health and safety
178. 6:04of our children
179. 6:06they mislead
180. 6:07and they
181. 6:10they choose to mislead and misdirect
182. 6:13facebook has not earned our blind faith
183. 6:16this inability to see into facebook's
184. 6:18actual systems and confirm how they work
185. 6:20is communicate it and work as
186. 6:23and confirm that they work as
187. 6:24communicated is like the department of
188. 6:26transportation regulating cars by only
189. 6:29watching them drive down the highway
190. 6:31today no regulator has a menu of
191. 6:33solutions for how to fix facebook
192. 6:35because facebook didn't want them to
193. 6:37know enough about what's causing the
194. 6:38problems
195. 6:40otherwise they wouldn't otherwise there
196. 6:41wouldn't have been need for a
197. 6:42whistleblower
198. 6:44how is the public supposed to assess if
199. 6:46facebook is resolving conflicts of
200. 6:48interest in a way that is aligned with
201. 6:50the public good if the public has no
202. 6:52visibility into how facebook operates
203. 6:55this must change
204. 6:57facebook wants you to believe that the
205. 6:59problems we're talking about are
206. 7:00unsolvable
207. 7:02they want you to believe in false
208. 7:04choices
209. 7:05they want you to believe that you must
210. 7:07choose between a facebook full of
211. 7:08divisive and extreme content or losing
212. 7:11one of the most important values our
213. 7:14country was founded upon free speech
214. 7:17that you must choose between public
215. 7:19oversight of facebook's choices and your
216. 7:21personal privacy
217. 7:23that to be able to share fun photos of
218. 7:25your kids with old friends
219. 7:27you must also be inundated with anger
220. 7:29driven virality
221. 7:31they want you to believe that this is
222. 7:33just part of the deal
223. 7:35i am here today to tell you that's not
224. 7:38true
225. 7:40these problems
226. 7:41are solvable
227. 7:43a safer
228. 7:44free speech respecting
229. 7:47more enjoyable social media is possible
230. 7:50but there is one thing that i hope
231. 7:51everyone takes away from these
232. 7:52disclosures
233. 7:54it is that facebook can change but is
234. 7:56clearly not going to do so on its own
235. 7:59my fear is that without action divisive
236. 8:02and extremist behaviors we see today are
237. 8:04only the beginning
238. 8:05what we saw in myanmar and are now seen
239. 8:08in ethiopia are only the opening
240. 8:10chapters of a story so terrifying no one
241. 8:13wants to read the end of it
242. 8:16congress can change the rules that
243. 8:18facebook plays by and stop the many
244. 8:20harms it is now causing
245. 8:22we now know the truth about facebook's
246. 8:25destructive impact
247. 8:27i really appreciate the seriousness
248. 8:29which the members of congress and the
249. 8:31securities and exchange commission are
250. 8:33approaching these issues
251. 8:35i came forward at great personal risk
252. 8:38because i believe we still have time to
253. 8:40act
254. 8:42but we must act now
255. 8:44i'm asking you our elected
256. 8:45representatives to act thank you