In the US Congress, a hearing of former senior Facebook employee has taken place, where the whistleblower claimed that the world’s leading social medium amplifies emotionally evoking content to increase profits. American legislators, who have been discussing political decisions on the field of social media, seem to be nearing concrete action to make the platforms more neutral in how they show content to their users, British news portal The Guardian reports.
During a public hearing in Washington on Tuesday, October 5, whistleblower Frances Haugen shared internal Facebook reports with Congress and argued the company puts «astronomical profits before people», harms children and is destabilizing democracies.
After years of sparring over the role of tech companies in past American elections, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Tuesday appeared to agree on the need for new regulations that would change how Facebook targets users and amplifies content.
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«I think the time has come for action,» Senator Amy Klobuchar told Haugen. «And I think you are the catalyst for that action.»
Throughout the morning, Congress members leveled questions at Haugen about what specifically could and should be done to address the harms caused by Facebook.
With 15 years in the industry as an expert in algorithms and design, Haugen offered a number of suggestions – including changing news feeds to be chronological rather than algorithmic, appointing a government body for tech oversight, and requiring more transparency on internal research.
Facebook whistleblower calls for US regulation against algorithms «harmful for children and democracy»
