Facebook Whistleblower Reveals Herself
The former Facebook product manager is responsible for the Journal series that detailed the company's research on the effects of its social media platforms on young girls.
By Entrepreneur Staff •
Frances Haugen outed herself Sunday as the whistleblower who brought internal Facebook documents to the Wall Street Journal and Congress, telling "60 Minutes" why she did it.
The former Facebook product manager is responsible for the Journal series that detailed the company's research on the effects of its social media platforms on young girls.
She revealed her identity online, writing that while working there, she "became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company makes prioritizing their own profits over public safety — putting people's lives at risk. As a last resort and at great personal risk, Frances made the courageous act to blow the whistle on Facebook."
Related: Facebook Pauses Plans for Instagram for Children
On "60 Minutes," she explained that she left the company in May. Prior to working at Facebook, she'd worked at a variety of tech companies like Pinterest and Yelp, but the situation "was substantially worse at Facebook."
The documents she shared not only highlighted Facebook's internal research, but its inaction on its findings. Facebook contests the reporting from the Journal, saying the series cherry-picked data for a negative impact.
In the weeks since the documents were first reported, Facebook has responded multiple times.
On Monday, VP of content policy Monka Bickert appeared on CNBC to reiterate that the company cares about the safety of its users.
"The whole point is understanding how we can be better and make a better experience," she said.
