Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s full opening statement at Senate hearing — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00my name is frances haugen
2. 0:02i used to work at facebook
3. 0:04i joined facebook because i think
4. 0:06facebook has the potential to bring out
5. 0:08the best enough
6. 0:10but i'm here today because i believe
7. 0:12facebook's products harm children stoke
8. 0:15division and weaken our democracy
9. 0:17the company's leadership knows how to
10. 0:19make facebook and instagram safer but
11. 0:22won't make the necessary changes because
12. 0:24they have put their astronomical profits
13. 0:26before people
14. 0:28congressional action is needed
15. 0:30they won't solve this crisis without
16. 0:33your help
17. 0:34yesterday we saw facebook get taken off
18. 0:37the internet
19. 0:38i don't know why i went down but i know
20. 0:40that for more than five hours facebook
21. 0:42wasn't used to deepen divides
22. 0:45destabilize democracies and make young
23. 0:47girls and women feel bad about their
24. 0:49bodies
25. 0:51it also means that millions of small
26. 0:53businesses weren't able to reach
27. 0:54potential customers
28. 0:56and countless photos of new babies
29. 0:58weren't joyously celebrated by family
30. 1:00and friends around the world
31. 1:02i believe
32. 1:03in the potential of facebook
33. 1:06we can have social media we enjoy
34. 1:09that connects us
35. 1:10without tearing our democr apart our
36. 1:12democracy putting our children in danger
37. 1:14and selling ethnic violence around the
38. 1:16world
39. 1:17we can do better
40. 1:20i have worked as a product manager at
41. 1:22large tech companies since 2006
42. 1:24including google pinterest yelp and
43. 1:26facebook
44. 1:28my job has largely focused on
45. 1:30algorithmic products like google plus
46. 1:32search
47. 1:32and recommendation systems like the one
48. 1:34that powers the facebook news feed
49. 1:37having worked on four different types of
50. 1:39social networks
51. 1:40i understand how complex and nuanced
52. 1:42these problems are
53. 1:45however
54. 1:46the choices being made inside of
55. 1:47facebook are disastrous
56. 1:49for our children for our public safety
57. 1:52for our privacy and for our democracy
58. 1:55and that is why we must demand facebook
59. 1:57make changes
60. 2:00during my time at facebook first working
61. 2:02as the lead product manager for civic
62. 2:03misinformation
63. 2:05and later on counter espionage
64. 2:07i saw facebook repeatedly encounter
65. 2:09conflicts between its own profits and
66. 2:11our safety
67. 2:13facebook consistently resolved these
68. 2:14conflicts in favor of its own profits
69. 2:18the result has been more division more
70. 2:20harm
71. 2:21more lies more threats and more combat
72. 2:25in some cases this is this dangerous
73. 2:27online talk has led to actual violence
74. 2:29that harms and even kills people
75. 2:32this is not simply a matter of certain
76. 2:34social media users being angry or
77. 2:36unstable
78. 2:38or about one side being radicalized
79. 2:39against the other it is about facebook
80. 2:42choosing to grow at all costs
81. 2:45becoming an almost trillion dollar
82. 2:46company by buying its profits with our
83. 2:49safety
84. 2:51during my time at facebook i came to
85. 2:53realize a devastating truth
86. 2:55almost no one outside of facebook knows
87. 2:57what happens inside of facebook
88. 3:00the company intentionally hides vital
89. 3:02information from the public from the u.s
90. 3:04government and from governments around
91. 3:06the world
92. 3:07the documents i have provided to
93. 3:08congress prove that facebook has
94. 3:10repeatedly misled the public
95. 3:13about what its own research reveals
96. 3:14about the safety of children
97. 3:16the efficacy of its artificial
98. 3:18intelligence systems and its role in
99. 3:20spreading divisive and extreme messages
100. 3:23i came forward because i believe that
101. 3:25every human being
102. 3:26deserves the dignity of the truth
103. 3:30the severity of this crisis demands that
104. 3:32we break out of our previous regulatory
105. 3:34frames
106. 3:35facebook wants to trick you into
107. 3:36thinking that privacy protections or
108. 3:39changes to section 230 alone will be
109. 3:41sufficient
110. 3:42while important these will not get to
111. 3:44the core of the issue which is that no
112. 3:46one truly understands the destructive
113. 3:48choices made by facebook
114. 3:50except facebook
115. 3:53we can afford nothing less than full
116. 3:54transparency
117. 3:56as long as facebook is operating in the
118. 3:58shadows hiding its research from public
119. 4:00scrutiny it is unaccountable
120. 4:03until the incentives change
121. 4:06facebook will not change
122. 4:10left alone facebook will continue to
123. 4:11make choices that go against the common
124. 4:13good
125. 4:14are common good
126. 4:16when we realized big tobacco was hiding
127. 4:18the harms it caused the government took
128. 4:20action
129. 4:22when we figured out cars were safer with
130. 4:24seat belts the government took action
131. 4:27and when our government learned that
132. 4:28opioids were taking lives the government
133. 4:30took action
134. 4:32i implore you to do the same here
135. 4:35today facebook shapes our perception of
136. 4:37the world by choosing the information we
137. 4:39see
138. 4:40even those who don't use facebook are
139. 4:41impacted by the majority who do
140. 4:44a company with such frightening
141. 4:45influence over so many people
142. 4:48over their deepest thoughts feelings and
143. 4:49behavior needs real oversight
144. 4:53but facebook's closed design means it
145. 4:56has no real oversight
146. 4:59only facebook knows how it personalizes
147. 5:01your feed for you
148. 5:02at other large tech companies like
149. 5:04google
150. 5:06any independent researcher can download
151. 5:08from the internet
152. 5:09the company's search results and write
153. 5:11papers about what they find
154. 5:13and they do
155. 5:14but facebook hides behind walls that
156. 5:16keeps researchers and regulators from
157. 5:18understanding the true dynamics of their
158. 5:20system
159. 5:21facebook will tell you privacy means
160. 5:23they can't give you data
161. 5:25this is not true
162. 5:27when tobacco companies claimed that
163. 5:29filtered cigarettes were safer for
164. 5:31consumers
165. 5:33scientists could independently
166. 5:34invalidate these marketing
167. 5:37and confirmed that in fact they posed a
168. 5:39greater threat to human health
169. 5:42the public cannot do the same with
170. 5:43facebook we are given no other option
171. 5:46than to take their marketing messages on
172. 5:48blind faith
173. 5:50not only does the company hide most of
174. 5:52its own data
175. 5:53my disclosure has proved that when
176. 5:55facebook is directly asked questions as
177. 5:57important as how do you impact the
178. 6:00health and safety of our children
179. 6:03they mislead
180. 6:04and they uh
181. 6:07they choose to mislead and misdirect
182. 6:10facebook has not earned our blind faith
183. 6:14this inability to see into facebook's
184. 6:15actual systems and confirm how they work
185. 6:17is communicate it and work as
186. 6:20and confirm that they work as
187. 6:21communicated is like the department of
188. 6:23transportation regulating cars by only
189. 6:26watching them drive down the highway
190. 6:28today no regulator has a menu of
191. 6:30solutions for how to fix facebook
192. 6:32because facebook didn't want them to
193. 6:34know enough about what's causing the
194. 6:36problems
195. 6:37otherwise they wouldn't otherwise there
196. 6:39wouldn't have been need for a
197. 6:39whistleblower
198. 6:42how is the public supposed to assess if
199. 6:44facebook is resolving conflicts of
200. 6:45interest in a way that is aligned with
201. 6:47the public good if the public has no
202. 6:49visibility into how facebook operates
203. 6:52this must change
204. 6:55facebook wants you to believe that the
205. 6:56problems we're talking about are
206. 6:57unsolvable
207. 6:59they want you to believe in false
208. 7:01choices
209. 7:03they want you to believe that you must
210. 7:04choose between a facebook full of
211. 7:06divisive and extreme content or losing
212. 7:08one of the most important values our
213. 7:11country was founded upon
214. 7:13free speech
215. 7:14that you must choose between public
216. 7:16oversight of facebook's choices and your
217. 7:18personal privacy
218. 7:20that to be able to share fun photos of
219. 7:22your kids with old friends
220. 7:24you must also be inundated with anger
221. 7:26driven virality
222. 7:28they want you to believe that this is
223. 7:30just part of the deal
224. 7:32i am here today to tell you that's not
225. 7:35true
226. 7:37these problems
227. 7:38are solvable
228. 7:40a safer
229. 7:42free speech respecting more enjoyable
230. 7:45social media is possible
231. 7:47but there is one thing that i hope
232. 7:48everyone takes away from these
233. 7:50disclosures
234. 7:51it is that facebook can change but is
235. 7:53clearly not going to do so on its own
236. 7:56my fear is that without action
237. 7:58divisive and extremist behaviors we see
238. 8:00today are only the beginning
239. 8:03what we saw in myanmar and are now seen
240. 8:05in ethiopia are only the opening
241. 8:07chapters of a story so terrifying no one
242. 8:11wants to read the end of it
243. 8:14congress can change the rules that
244. 8:15facebook plays by and stop the many
245. 8:17harms it is now causing
246. 8:20we now know the truth about facebook's
247. 8:22destructive impact
248. 8:24i really appreciate the seriousness
249. 8:26which the members of congress and the
250. 8:28securities and exchange commission are
251. 8:30approaching these issues
252. 8:32i came forward at great personal risk
253. 8:35because i believe we still have time to
254. 8:37act
255. 8:39but we must act now
256. 8:41i'm asking you our elected
257. 8:42representatives to act