Ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen to testify before House Select Committee

Ex-Facebook product manager, now a whistleblower, Frances Haugen is expected to send evidence on how the tech giant was used to facilitate the violent unrest which occurred while parliamentarians were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. According to CNN, Frances Haugen will meet with the House Select Committee probing the disturbance at the US Capitol on January 6 as early as Thursday.

The Select Committee addressed letters to 15 social media firms, including Facebook, in August, requesting information on how domestic violent extremists linked with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, notably the Capitol riot of January, used their platforms. Haugen's name was exposed on 60 Minutes News on Sunday night after she leaked tens of thousands of pages of internal Facebook papers that she claims to show the business is aware its platforms are being used to propagate hate, violence and misinformation.

Haugen's role in Facebook's Civic Integrity team

37-year-old Haugen said that what she observed at Facebook had conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for the company and that Facebook opted to optimise for its own interests, like earning more money. Haugen, who was on Facebook's Civic Integrity team, which is tasked with combating misinformation during and after the 2020 presidential election, said that after the election was declared in November last year, Facebook's decision to shut down the Civic Integrity team was a major turning point ahead of the 6 January election.

On Tuesday, the whistleblower appeared before a US Senate subcommittee, proposing the formation of a new regulatory framework that requires more transparency. According to Sputnik, Haugen filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission approximately a month ago, alleging that Facebook was withholding research concerning its flaws from investors and the general public. She also shared material with The Wall Street Journal, which later released an article claiming that Facebook was aware of the issues.

What happened on January 6?

Protesters broke into the US Capitol building on January 6th, disrupting a joint session of Congress that was counting electoral votes to officially certify Democrat Joe Biden's victory. As a result, five individuals were killed, including a Capitol police officer. Donald Trump was accused of "inciting an insurgency" after claiming the 2020 presidential election had been robbed from him.

Image: AP