Frances Haugen recently expressed her optimism for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, stating in an interview that she sees him as the only person who can truly govern Facebook.
Frances Haugen’s a pretty well-known name nowadays. The ex-Facebook employee gained a lot of attention due to her status as a whistleblower, actively outing many of the platform’s memos and documents. Her gripe with the social network? The fact that Haugen believes it actively propagates content that can prove extremely harmful to users across the platform, as well as promote unhealthy ideals about body image and mental health that more impressionable users could potentially latch onto.
Frances Haugen’s position in Facebook was one a product manager, working under the Civic Integrity Department. This led her to experiencing the exact sort of content that has led to the seedy reputation currently hinged to the platform; one of political strife, active racism, mental health deterioration being expressed online, and other such controversial and distressing issues? Worst of all was the fact that, as reported by Haugen and backed up by supporting evidence, Facebook’s algorithm seemed to be actively supporting such content due to it being engaged with more. This would lead to Haugen noticing a certain pattern across posts, advertisements, and other features alike: if they performed well, or paid well, then they were mostly excusable. Facebook even went so far as to keep skirting the social network’s own Community Guidelines in the interest of keeping famous individuals and celebrities on the platform.
Haugen’s recent interview with the Sway podcast dug a bit deeper into her mindset, specifically unraveling her thoughts regarding CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Even when this entire escapade began, kicking off with the Wall Street Journal publishing many of Haugen’s leaked documents, the ex-employee’s statements on Zuckerberg were clear: she saw him as an individual with the capacity of doing so much better, and actively believed in his ability to do so. Her current interview reflects many of the same sentiments, with Haugen emphatically stating that she wanted the CEO to have a life which wasn’t impacted by dwindling popularity, jagged looks, and spiteful comments.
It may feel sort of patronizing for the individual who has actively put Zuckerberg in a place of discomfort to sympathize with him, but I personally believe Frances Haugen’s intent to be good. This is a person who had a close associate radicalized by online experiences. She comes from a stellar background of having worked jobs at Yelp and Google (the latter having even paid for her Master’s). Her status as a whistleblower may even leave her career in jeopardy, since no one really likes hiring a snitch. I don’t believe that a person willing to put her job security on the line had any major personal motivation guiding her actions. I do believe her statements about Zuckerberg and that Frances Haugen is just trying to do the right thing.
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Frances Haugen’s a pretty well-known name nowadays. The ex-Facebook employee gained a lot of attention due to her status as a whistleblower, actively outing many of the platform’s memos and documents. Her gripe with the social network? The fact that Haugen believes it actively propagates content that can prove extremely harmful to users across the platform, as well as promote unhealthy ideals about body image and mental health that more impressionable users could potentially latch onto.
Frances Haugen’s position in Facebook was one a product manager, working under the Civic Integrity Department. This led her to experiencing the exact sort of content that has led to the seedy reputation currently hinged to the platform; one of political strife, active racism, mental health deterioration being expressed online, and other such controversial and distressing issues? Worst of all was the fact that, as reported by Haugen and backed up by supporting evidence, Facebook’s algorithm seemed to be actively supporting such content due to it being engaged with more. This would lead to Haugen noticing a certain pattern across posts, advertisements, and other features alike: if they performed well, or paid well, then they were mostly excusable. Facebook even went so far as to keep skirting the social network’s own Community Guidelines in the interest of keeping famous individuals and celebrities on the platform.
Haugen’s recent interview with the Sway podcast dug a bit deeper into her mindset, specifically unraveling her thoughts regarding CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Even when this entire escapade began, kicking off with the Wall Street Journal publishing many of Haugen’s leaked documents, the ex-employee’s statements on Zuckerberg were clear: she saw him as an individual with the capacity of doing so much better, and actively believed in his ability to do so. Her current interview reflects many of the same sentiments, with Haugen emphatically stating that she wanted the CEO to have a life which wasn’t impacted by dwindling popularity, jagged looks, and spiteful comments.
It may feel sort of patronizing for the individual who has actively put Zuckerberg in a place of discomfort to sympathize with him, but I personally believe Frances Haugen’s intent to be good. This is a person who had a close associate radicalized by online experiences. She comes from a stellar background of having worked jobs at Yelp and Google (the latter having even paid for her Master’s). Her status as a whistleblower may even leave her career in jeopardy, since no one really likes hiring a snitch. I don’t believe that a person willing to put her job security on the line had any major personal motivation guiding her actions. I do believe her statements about Zuckerberg and that Frances Haugen is just trying to do the right thing.
Read next: Meta's New AI-Powered Tool Can Animates Simple Drawings Made By Children