Facebook Whistleblower speaks to LBC on Online Safety Day
By Kit Heren
A Facebook whistleblower has said that online safety standards "fell apart" when Elon Musk bought Twitter in October 2022.
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Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, came forward to claim the giant platform prioritised "profit over public safety."
Ms Haugen said that Facebook knew that "divisive content" would be prioritised by the algorithm yet did nothing to address this, despite concerns about toxic public debates surrounding politics.
She said that at one stage lasting "a couple of years" Facebook "really took its responsibilities differently," taking steps such as doubling the size of their safety team and spending "a lot more time" thinking about the weighting of personal content versus political.
"It's great to have an interactive interaction about your family photos. Do you want to be incentivising knee jerk content for political content, for example?"
Read more: LBC's Online Safety Day: Where you can get help and support
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She told Tom: "Musk set a precedent that you don't have to invest in safety - you could get away with it."
Ms Haugen added she would not feel comfortable allowing children to be on social media sites like Instagram as...
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