Frances Haugen has been throwing accusations right left and center about the security neglecting Facebook does and Facebook seems to be in hot water recently.
The tech giant was called out by one of its former employees Frances Haugen’s who testified in front of the Online Safety Bill committee in London.
Haugen stated that Facebook is one of the leading applications on the charts with the top monthly active user rate, however when it comes to the safety and security of its users it may be the least concerned application. According to Haugen, Facebook security team has been lacking in resources. It apparently does not mean that the tech giant doesn’t have the money to make changes and improving security, but the fact that it tries to keep all the profit it makes rather than putting it in for improvements.
She also stated that Instagram happened to be even more severely toxic and unsecured compared to Facebook. According to Frances Haugen, while other social networks main objectives happens to be performances, exchange of ideas and initiations, Instagram happens to be a toxic platform which makes people compare themselves to those online and feel bad about themselves. The social network is deceiving in shorter terms.
Several researches have proved that teenagers claimed that Instagram felt like a competitive place and they felt like they were not succeeding. Upon this, Frances said while she believes that the app isn’t safe for 14 years old, an app for 10 years old seems out of the picture when it comes to security, in reference to Facebook idea of Instagram Kid. She also stated that several kids have mentioned both the platforms being highly addicting, something they want to leave but cannot.
The committee has now issued a proposed law, which notifies all social networks an often check through media regulators.
Apart from this, while Haugen was issuing her concerns in London, she came up with the language and misinformation alignment undertaking British English as an example.
According to Frances, while Facebook claims to be removing misinformation from its application, its misinformation language happens to be American English by default, so any posts which are written in British English or any other language are often neglected through its AI technology.
Upon this, Frances suggested the committee to release a law which states a paid advertisement because with the current rules imposed it is easier for many to spread hate through ads than it is to spread good and meaningful messages. Apart from this, she also stated that the committee would ask Facebook for an average on how many people were hurt or harmed by the content it lets circulate on its platform, rather than the average figure of how many people the content reached. This is because Facebook has a long history of messing and changing their data from what the reports suggests.
Lastly, Frances in front of the committee discussed the lack of resources or a team for the employees to issue their concerns too. According to her, the employees have nowhere to go when they come up with an issue or feel that something in the system needs to changed. Their concerns are voiced down in the name of lack of resources and they are made to work with what the company wants. The Oversight board according to her is also a show tactic and it only makes the decisions Facebook wants.
Facebook however has denied all the above mentioned accusations claiming it as misleading and a potential breach of data privacy and stolen documents.
However, UK is pretty strong in terms of online social matters and changing the rules throughout the world and the new bill the committee has issued in regards to Haugens proof is moving forward soon.
Creator: Drew Angerer | Credit: Getty Images
Read next: Amidst Controversial Investigations, And Apple's User Privacy Features, Facebook Still Manages To Have A Successful Q3
The tech giant was called out by one of its former employees Frances Haugen’s who testified in front of the Online Safety Bill committee in London.
Haugen stated that Facebook is one of the leading applications on the charts with the top monthly active user rate, however when it comes to the safety and security of its users it may be the least concerned application. According to Haugen, Facebook security team has been lacking in resources. It apparently does not mean that the tech giant doesn’t have the money to make changes and improving security, but the fact that it tries to keep all the profit it makes rather than putting it in for improvements.
She also stated that Instagram happened to be even more severely toxic and unsecured compared to Facebook. According to Frances Haugen, while other social networks main objectives happens to be performances, exchange of ideas and initiations, Instagram happens to be a toxic platform which makes people compare themselves to those online and feel bad about themselves. The social network is deceiving in shorter terms.
Several researches have proved that teenagers claimed that Instagram felt like a competitive place and they felt like they were not succeeding. Upon this, Frances said while she believes that the app isn’t safe for 14 years old, an app for 10 years old seems out of the picture when it comes to security, in reference to Facebook idea of Instagram Kid. She also stated that several kids have mentioned both the platforms being highly addicting, something they want to leave but cannot.
The committee has now issued a proposed law, which notifies all social networks an often check through media regulators.
Apart from this, while Haugen was issuing her concerns in London, she came up with the language and misinformation alignment undertaking British English as an example.
According to Frances, while Facebook claims to be removing misinformation from its application, its misinformation language happens to be American English by default, so any posts which are written in British English or any other language are often neglected through its AI technology.
Upon this, Frances suggested the committee to release a law which states a paid advertisement because with the current rules imposed it is easier for many to spread hate through ads than it is to spread good and meaningful messages. Apart from this, she also stated that the committee would ask Facebook for an average on how many people were hurt or harmed by the content it lets circulate on its platform, rather than the average figure of how many people the content reached. This is because Facebook has a long history of messing and changing their data from what the reports suggests.
Lastly, Frances in front of the committee discussed the lack of resources or a team for the employees to issue their concerns too. According to her, the employees have nowhere to go when they come up with an issue or feel that something in the system needs to changed. Their concerns are voiced down in the name of lack of resources and they are made to work with what the company wants. The Oversight board according to her is also a show tactic and it only makes the decisions Facebook wants.
Facebook however has denied all the above mentioned accusations claiming it as misleading and a potential breach of data privacy and stolen documents.
However, UK is pretty strong in terms of online social matters and changing the rules throughout the world and the new bill the committee has issued in regards to Haugens proof is moving forward soon.
Read next: Amidst Controversial Investigations, And Apple's User Privacy Features, Facebook Still Manages To Have A Successful Q3