Shares in Facebook parent Meta (FB) slid past a major milestone on Thursday when the company fell off the list of the world's 10 most valuable companies, closing with a market cap of $565 billion that marked a 46% decline from last year's record.

Meanwhile, at the top of the list stands rival Apple (AAPL). The opposite fortunes of the tech giants may inflict a special sting for Meta, since the decline of its stock owes in part to new Apple privacy settings that limit the effectiveness of targeted ads.

In a new interview, taped on Feb. 9, whistleblower Frances Haugen — a former product manager at Facebook who leaked thousands of internal company documents — said the relative success of Apple is rooted in its transparency. She contrasted Apple with Meta, which she says uses secrecy to deny problems with its products.

"Part of the difference is the transparency of the companies," Haugen says. "When Apple makes a device — within hours of that device — people have literally posted YouTube videos for taking that phone apart and verified [it]."

"That makes Apple work in more responsible ways," she adds. "Because they know people are watching."

A trove of documents from Haugen led to a series of bombshell reports, known as the "Facebook Files," which revealed the company's internal knowledge of issues as disparate as the effect of Instagram on the mental health of young girls, the prevalence of anti-vaccine misinformation in comments on Facebook posts, and the use of Facebook for...

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