Facebook whistleblower issues online safety advice to Oireachtas
Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who last year leaked internal documents from Facebook and accused it of prioritising its growth over users’ safety, has issued tech regulation advice to the Oireachtas.
Last October, the former Facebook employee testified before the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and subsequently to the European Parliament last November.
During her testimony, she notably advocated for government regulation of Facebook.
Ms Haugen appeared virtually before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media, and also recently took part in a radio interview with Newstalk.
She said that while Ireland has a unique role to play in holding social media companies to account, she stressed that the Irish Government needs to establish a new online safety regime.
The Iowa native, who now resides in Puerto Rico, explained: "The tech companies on your shores have, once again, got away with it.
"As you create an independent, robust and effective online safety regulator, you must launch an independent review into the Data Protection Committee, so that it too can start to enforce the law thoroughly and boldly," she added.
Ms Haughen urged the govt to reflect deeply on its own role, as well as "on the responsibilities which come with housing these social media manipulation machines."
She also discussed the limits of Artificial Intelligence, such as the algorithm present in Facebook,...
A wave of pro-whistleblower opinions from federal judges suggests the False Claims Act remains on solid ground despite pointed questions from leading conservative judicial voices. Whistleblowers, ...