Haugen was testifying before the Select Committee set up by the Australian government to look into the practices of technology and social media companies as a part of the proposed legislation to regulate social media companies and curb harmful online behaviour.

"It (Facebook) really under invests in safety outside the US because, disproportionately, their safety budget is spent on paving the US," Haugen said.

Haugen also reiterated that Facebook adopts a "bare minimum" approach when it comes to taking down harmful content, especially in languages that are not prominently used in developed countries.

To support her allegation, Haugen cited an intervention screen for eating disorder or self-harm content that was only shown hundreds of times per day as of 2021.

Haugen had made similar allegations on her testimony to the US Senate in October 2021. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, had refuted the claims that his company puts profit over safety and said it's “just not true".

In her testimony, Haugen also warned the Australian Select Committee to not let the social media company anywhere near the regulation process, reported News.com Australia.

She said if Meta is involved it would continue to “mislead and underinvest" in the most basic safety systems to avoid losing profit.

Even before Haugen's allegations and leak of internal documents, Facebook has been facing criticism for its data mining and anti-competitive practices. It's currently facing antitrust cases in the US for...

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