When Frances Haugen leaked the Facebook Files last October, she became, for a few days at least, one of the most famous faces in the business world.
The data engineer turned whistleblower exposed what she called the tech giant’s “profits over people” mindset and shared internal research that suggested Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg-owned firms amplified hate, misinformation and political unrest.
Haugen said this Facebook research found Instagram to be particularly “toxic” for teens, feeding suicidal thoughts and body shame.
According to slides shared with the Wall Street Journal last year, 32 per cent of teenage girls surveyed said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made this worse.
She also suggested Facebook helped amplify disinformation during the Capitol Hill riots in January 2021, with safety systems only being applied on Facebook during the US election to limit misinformation.
Zuckerberg and his team rejected Haugen’s claims at the time, and a spokesman for the company told City A.M. that its position on the matter had not changed.
Since her dramatic exposé, Haugen has been on a mission to push for urgent regulation in Europe and the US to crack down on Big Tech accountability and transparency with algorithms.
Nonetheless, even in the time since her revelations, the social media landscape has changed dramatically.
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