In Frances Haugen’s Facebook testimonial before the Senate Commerce Committee, she claimed that Facebook harms children and weakens democracy. She stated that originally she joined Facebook because she believed that Facebook had the “potential to bring out the best in us.” Haugen believes in the potential of Facebook without inciting ethnic violence and putting children in danger.

As a product manager who focused mainly on algorithmic products, she learned the nuances of AI systems that contributed to Facebook’s widespread harm. Haugen saw the repeated instance in which Facebook resolved issues in favor of profit rather than in favor of the safety of the greater good. Examples in this testimony included online talks that lead to violence and occasional fatalities. Facebook chose to grow at all costs and kept all of this information inside of Facebook. Facebook hid and continues to hide its information from the public and will repeatedly mislead the public about the ethicality of their systems and their own data. Haugen came forward because “every human being deserves the truth.” She claims that no one truly understands the harmful choices made by Facebook and until incentivized, they will never change. 

What fascinated me most about Haugen’s testimony was her mention of tobacco, car safety, and opioids. In all three of these scenarios, the government got involved and took notable action. Haugen now calls on the government to step in, as in these instances, and help control the world of big tech data. Ultimately, Haugen states, she is at great personal risk for stepping forward and this shows how imperative it is for the government to get involved. Facebook can change the narrative, however, she says that they will not do so on their own.

This testimony was extremely interesting and I am eagerly waiting for the government to take the reigns and help protect the greater good of society. As stated repeatedly by multiple senators, Haugen was extremely brave in coming forward and it is now in the hands of our government to prevent Facebook from harming more individuals. I honestly did not realize the negative effects of the platform until Haugen explicitly stated them. I knew social media can cause mental harm, but I did not realize the extent in which it affected people.