Facebook has been caught up in yet another scandal. The company’s CEO was called out by congress to testify the allegations put upon by Frances Haugen who is none other than an ex Facebook employee.
While Facebook has had been caught up in a lot of scandals previously, and though there were strong reports, the tech giant always managed to come out of it. However, this time the allegations were different because it came from someone who used to be a part of the tech giant and was aware of the dynamics that Facebook worked on.
Frances Haugen’s in her meeting with the Congress though appreciated some things that were great at Facebook, she mentioned some aspects that Facebook could work to make themselves better.
The first change that Haugen mentioned that should be brought about is the change in the forms of ranking. The tech giant should opt out its current engagement based rankings and switch to the chronological one. While a member of the congress asked her about a safer algorithm, she skipped the question and in return measures the Pros and Cons of the above mentioned rankings.
She mentioned that in engagement based rankings can lead children to content which could be harmful for the younger population, but was gaining a lot of hype online. She further mentioned about Facebook’s AI moderation method.
According to her Facebook has falsely portrayed its moderation method to the public and its not as effective as they make it seem. The tech giant has addressed that it removed large percentage of its harmful content though AI moderation, however, according to Haugen he Facebook’s moderation system is not very affective is catching content that breaks guidelines and hardly 10 to 20 percent of the harmful content is removed from the tech giant.
Hence it is better to initiate a ranking that promotes recent rather than engagements. She even mentioned that as someone who has been an evident part of the company for 10 years now has seen this happen and knows Facebook will never opt for chronological rankings because engagements is what keeps it going.
Apart from this, Frances Haugen’s said that the Section 230 which was a 1996 law should be implemented at Facebook. This law holds tech giant accountable and liable of that their users do or say about the platform. Implementation of this law will make it easier to push Facebook to remove the engagement ranking approach.
Furthermore, she addressed that the implementation of the Section 230 alone will not remove the problems that arise at Facebook, and in no way should lawmakers be tricked into believing this. Many members on the congress agreed with the reimplementation of Section 230.
The spread of misinformation which is a big concern online was also mentioned. Haugen stated that Facebook should take tiny measures which will decrease the risk of the misinformation circulating on its platform. Implementations of features similar to Twitter’s ‘Read Before You Share’ which encourages user to read a content before sharing it will help a lot.
Facebook while has worked hard on stopping misinformation online, the attack at the Capitol and all the election days are an evidence that the tech giant still has a long road in this factor.
Facebook should also make the internal data and surveys it gathers available to the public. This is because the tech giant has a large population attached to it and helping others with responses will make it easier for outside companies to conclude a lot of results. She mentioned that Facebook researchers ask some of the most real and authentic questions online, which at times can be awkward but are actually really important to know.
An oversight body should be created which will regulate all Facebook and acquired platforms because according to Haugen the current Oversight Board which Facebook has made in order for people to believe that it is regulating its content and letting experts decide the final decisions on big matters, the truth is that the Oversight Board is as blind to the reality as the public is.
Whatever the outcomes will be, it’s not far from being implanted now.
Photo: Frances Haugen 60 Minutes
Read next: Facebook And Its Acquisitions Crashed And Snapchat Profited From It As Winner
While Facebook has had been caught up in a lot of scandals previously, and though there were strong reports, the tech giant always managed to come out of it. However, this time the allegations were different because it came from someone who used to be a part of the tech giant and was aware of the dynamics that Facebook worked on.
Frances Haugen’s in her meeting with the Congress though appreciated some things that were great at Facebook, she mentioned some aspects that Facebook could work to make themselves better.
The first change that Haugen mentioned that should be brought about is the change in the forms of ranking. The tech giant should opt out its current engagement based rankings and switch to the chronological one. While a member of the congress asked her about a safer algorithm, she skipped the question and in return measures the Pros and Cons of the above mentioned rankings.
She mentioned that in engagement based rankings can lead children to content which could be harmful for the younger population, but was gaining a lot of hype online. She further mentioned about Facebook’s AI moderation method.
According to her Facebook has falsely portrayed its moderation method to the public and its not as effective as they make it seem. The tech giant has addressed that it removed large percentage of its harmful content though AI moderation, however, according to Haugen he Facebook’s moderation system is not very affective is catching content that breaks guidelines and hardly 10 to 20 percent of the harmful content is removed from the tech giant.
Hence it is better to initiate a ranking that promotes recent rather than engagements. She even mentioned that as someone who has been an evident part of the company for 10 years now has seen this happen and knows Facebook will never opt for chronological rankings because engagements is what keeps it going.
Apart from this, Frances Haugen’s said that the Section 230 which was a 1996 law should be implemented at Facebook. This law holds tech giant accountable and liable of that their users do or say about the platform. Implementation of this law will make it easier to push Facebook to remove the engagement ranking approach.
Furthermore, she addressed that the implementation of the Section 230 alone will not remove the problems that arise at Facebook, and in no way should lawmakers be tricked into believing this. Many members on the congress agreed with the reimplementation of Section 230.
The spread of misinformation which is a big concern online was also mentioned. Haugen stated that Facebook should take tiny measures which will decrease the risk of the misinformation circulating on its platform. Implementations of features similar to Twitter’s ‘Read Before You Share’ which encourages user to read a content before sharing it will help a lot.
Facebook while has worked hard on stopping misinformation online, the attack at the Capitol and all the election days are an evidence that the tech giant still has a long road in this factor.
Facebook should also make the internal data and surveys it gathers available to the public. This is because the tech giant has a large population attached to it and helping others with responses will make it easier for outside companies to conclude a lot of results. She mentioned that Facebook researchers ask some of the most real and authentic questions online, which at times can be awkward but are actually really important to know.
An oversight body should be created which will regulate all Facebook and acquired platforms because according to Haugen the current Oversight Board which Facebook has made in order for people to believe that it is regulating its content and letting experts decide the final decisions on big matters, the truth is that the Oversight Board is as blind to the reality as the public is.
Whatever the outcomes will be, it’s not far from being implanted now.
Read next: Facebook And Its Acquisitions Crashed And Snapchat Profited From It As Winner