Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's latest testimony (opening remarks) — Transcript

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1. 0:01Subcommittee Chairman Doyle, Ranking
2. 0:03Member Latta, members of the committee,
3. 0:06thank you for the opportunity to appear
4. 0:08before you today.
5. 0:09My name is Frances Haugen.
6. 0:12I used to work at Facebook.
7. 0:13I joined the company because I believe
8. 0:15Facebook has the potential to bring out
9. 0:17the best in us.
10. 0:19But I'm here today because I believe
11. 0:20that Facebook's products harm children,
12. 0:23stoke division in our communities,
13. 0:25threaten our democracy, weaken our
14. 0:27national security, and much more.
15. 0:30Facebook is a company that is paid for
16. 0:32its immense profits with our safety
17. 0:35and security. I am honored to be here
18. 0:37today to share what I know, and I am
19. 0:39grateful for the level of scrutiny these
20. 0:41issues are getting.
21. 0:43I hope we can stay focused on the real
22. 0:45harms to real people, rather than talk
23. 0:47in abstractions.
24. 0:49This is about the teenagers whose mental
25. 0:51health is undermined by Instagram. It is
26. 0:53about their parents and teachers who are
27. 0:55struggling to deal with the consequences
28. 0:57of that harm.
29. 0:58It is about the doctors and nurses who
30. 1:00have to cope with conspiracies about
31. 1:02COVID-19 and vaccines.
32. 1:05It's about people who have suffered
33. 1:06harassment online.
34. 1:08It is about families at home and around
35. 1:10the world who live in places where hate,
36. 1:13fear, and conflict have been ratcheted
37. 1:15up to a fever pitch amongst
38. 1:17as a result of online radicalization.
39. 1:20Facebook may not be the cause of all
40. 1:21these problems, but the company has
41. 1:23unquestionably made them worse.
42. 1:26Facebook knows what is happening on the
43. 1:27platform, and they have systematically
44. 1:30under invested in fighting these those
45. 1:31harms.
46. 1:33They know they do far too little about
47. 1:35it. In fact, they have incentives for it
48. 1:37to be this way.
49. 1:38And that is what has to change.
50. 1:41Facebook will not change until the
51. 1:43incentives change.
52. 1:45The company's leadership knows how to
53. 1:47make Facebook and Instagram safer,
54. 1:49but they repeatedly chose to ignore the
55. 1:52these options and continue to put their
56. 1:53profits before people.
57. 1:55They can change the name of the company,
58. 1:57but unless they change the products,
59. 1:59they will continue to damage the health
60. 2:00and safety of our communities and
61. 2:02threaten the entire integrity of our
62. 2:04democracies.
63. 2:05There have been many others sounding the
64. 2:06same alarm. This committee has heard
65. 2:08from many experts in recent years.
66. 2:11They have done the painstaking work of
67. 2:12documenting these harms and have been
68. 2:14repeatedly gaslit by Facebook about what
69. 2:16they found.
70. 2:18My disclosures back up their findings.
71. 2:20We have long known that Facebook's
72. 2:22business model is problematic. Now, we
73. 2:24have the evidence to prove it. The
74. 2:26documents I have shared with Congress
75. 2:27speak for themselves.
76. 2:29What I have to say about these documents
77. 2:31is grounded in far more than my
78. 2:33experience at Facebook. I have worked as
79. 2:35a product manager at large tech
80. 2:36companies since 2006, including Google,
81. 2:39Pinterest, Yelp, and Facebook.
82. 2:41My job has largely focused on
83. 2:43algorithmic products like Google Plus
84. 2:45Search and recommendation systems like
85. 2:47the one that powers Facebook Newsfeed.
86. 2:50I know my way around these products and
87. 2:51I have watched them evolve over the many
88. 2:53years.
89. 2:55Working at four major tech companies uh
90. 2:57that operate different types of social
91. 2:58networks has given me the perspective to
92. 3:00compare and contrast how each company
93. 3:02approaches and deals with different
94. 3:04challenges.
95. 3:05The choices being made by Facebook's
96. 3:06leadership are huge problem for our
97. 3:09children, for our communities, and for
98. 3:10our democracy. That's why I came
99. 3:12forward.
100. 3:14And let's be clear, it doesn't have to
101. 3:16be this way. They can make different
102. 3:18choices.
103. 3:19We are here today because of deliberate
104. 3:21choices Facebook has made. During my
105. 3:23time at the company, first working as
106. 3:25the lead product manager for civic
107. 3:26misinformation and later on counter
108. 3:28espionage, I saw that Facebook
109. 3:30repeatedly encountered conflicts between
110. 3:32its own profits and our safety.
111. 3:34Management consistently resolved those
112. 3:36conflicts in favor of its own profits.
113. 3:39I want to be extremely clear. This is
114. 3:42not about good ideas or bad ideas or
115. 3:45good people and bad people. Facebook has
116. 3:48hidden from you the countless ways to
117. 3:50make the platform itself safer so you
118. 3:52don't that and that don't require anyone
119. 3:54to pick and choose what ideas are good.
120. 3:57But Facebook hid these options from you
121. 3:59because the status quo made them more
122. 4:01money.
123. 4:02We're having a conflict over over over
124. 4:05things that we could solve in other ways
125. 4:06that don't
126. 4:07compromise speech.
127. 4:09Facebook wants you to have analysis
128. 4:11paralysis to get stuck in false choices
129. 4:13and not act here.
130. 4:15Facebook does not have safety by design
131. 4:17and it chooses every day to run the
132. 4:19system hot because it maximizes their
133. 4:21profit. The result is a system that
134. 4:23amplifies division, extremism, and
135. 4:25polarization. Facebook is running the
136. 4:27show whether we know it or not.
137. 4:30Facebook's choices have led to
138. 4:31disastrous ends in too many cases.
139. 4:34Facebook's amplification promotes
140. 4:35violence that harms and even kills
141. 4:37people.
142. 4:38In other cases, Facebook's profit
143. 4:39optimizing machine is generating
144. 4:41self-harm and self-hate, especially for
145. 4:43vulnerable groups like teenage girls,
146. 4:46the socially isolated, and the recently
147. 4:48widowed. No one is held accountable.
148. 4:51These problems have been confirmed
149. 4:52repeatedly by Facebook's own internal
150. 4:54research. Secrets that do not see the
151. 4:56light of day.
152. 4:58This is not that simply a matter of some
153. 4:59social media users being angry or
154. 5:01unstable.
155. 5:02Facebook has made
156. 5:04a $1 trillion company by paying for its
157. 5:06profits with our safety, including the
158. 5:08safety of our children. And that is
159. 5:10unacceptable.
160. 5:12This committee's attention, this
161. 5:13Congress's action, are critical. The
162. 5:16public deserves further investigation
163. 5:18and action to protect customers on
164. 5:20several fronts.
165. 5:22Uh first, given that platforms like
166. 5:24Facebook have become the new cyber
167. 5:26security attack surface on the United
168. 5:28States, our national security demands uh
169. 5:31demands more oversight. Second, we
170. 5:33should be concerned about how Facebook's
171. 5:34products are used to influence
172. 5:36vulnerable populations.
173. 5:38Third, we must correct the broken
174. 5:39incentive system that perpetuates
175. 5:41consistent misalignment between
176. 5:43Facebook's decisions.
177. 5:44Ms. Haugen, you need to wrap up your
178. 5:46statement.
179. 5:46Okay.
180. 5:47Um
181. 5:49Okay, I'm going to I'll I'll skip
182. 5:49forward. Um
183. 5:51As you consider uh reforms to Section
184. 5:54230, I I encourage you to to move
185. 5:56forward with your eyes open
186. 5:58to the consequences of reform.
187. 6:00Congress has instituted carve-outs of
188. 6:02two Section 230 in recent years. I
189. 6:04encourage you to talk to human rights
190. 6:06advocates who can help provide context
191. 6:08on how the last reform of 230 had
192. 6:09dramatic impacts on the safety of some
193. 6:11some of the most vulnerable people in
194. 6:13our society, but has been rarely used
195. 6:15for its original purpose.
196. 6:17The last last thing. Uh they should
197. 6:18consult with international human right
198. 6:20the international human rights community
199. 6:22who have seen firsthand how authority
200. 6:24authoritarian governments around the
201. 6:25world can weaponize reductions in
202. 6:27interme- intermediary liability and
203. 6:29silence descent.
204. 6:31There is a lot at stake here. You have a
205. 6:33once-in-a-generation opportunity to
206. 6:34create new rules for our online world.
207. 6:37I came forward at great personal risk
208. 6:39because I believe we still have time to
209. 6:40act, but we must act now. Thank you.
210. 6:43Thank you. Um
211. 6:46We we will We're going to try to adhere
212. 6:48to the 5-minute rule. This is a very