Facebook won’t change if ‘only incentive is profit’, Haugen says

Haugen speaks during a House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., US, on Dec 1, 2021. Haugen, who revealed thousands of internal Facebook documents, is renewing her call for regulation of a social-media business model that she says puts profits over the health of its users and global democracies. — Bloomberg

The whistle-blower who revealed thousands of internal Facebook documents urged US Congress on Dec 1 to change social media’s business incentives so platforms are forced to consider long-term harms to users and society, rather than just short-term profits.

Speaking before the House subcommittee on technology, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, said the best strategy for legislation would focus on product design and transparency to “open up the black box at Facebook”. She warned against rules that target specific kinds of content.