U.S. lawmakers demand Fb probes as whistleblower testifies kids harmed

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WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers pounded Fb on Tuesday, accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg of pushing for larger earnings whereas being cavalier about person security they usually demanded regulators examine whistleblower accusations that the social media firm harms kids and stokes divisions.

Coming a day after Fb and its items together with Instagram suffered a serious outage, whistleblower Frances Haugen testified in a congressional listening to that “for greater than 5 hours Fb wasn’t used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make younger women and girls really feel dangerous about their our bodies.”

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In an period when bipartisanship is uncommon on Capitol Hill, lawmakers from each events excoriated the almost $1 trillion firm in a listening to that exemplified the rising anger in Congress with Fb amid quite a few calls for for legislative reforms.

As lawmakers criticized Fb and Zuckerberg, the corporate’s spokespeople fought again on Twitter, arguing Haugen didn’t work instantly on a number of the points she was being questioned on.

Senate Commerce subcommittee chair Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, mentioned Fb knew that its merchandise have been addictive, like cigarettes. “Tech now faces that large tobacco jawdropping second of reality,” he mentioned.

He known as for Zuckerberg to testify earlier than the committee, and for the Securities and Trade Fee and Federal Commerce Fee to analyze the corporate.

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“Our youngsters are those who’re victims. Teenagers right now trying within the mirror really feel doubt and insecurity. Mark Zuckerberg must be himself within the mirror,” Blumenthal mentioned, including that Zuckerberg as a substitute was going crusing.

Haugen, a former product supervisor on Fb’s civic misinformation workforce who has turned whistleblower, mentioned Fb has sought to maintain its operations confidential.

“As we speak, no regulator has a menu of options for how you can repair Fb, as a result of Fb didn’t need them to know sufficient about what’s inflicting the issues. In any other case, there wouldn’t have been want for a whistleblower,” she mentioned.

The highest Republican on the subcommittee, Marsha Blackburn, mentioned that Fb turned a blind eye to kids under age 13 on its websites. “It’s clear that Fb prioritizes revenue over the well-being of kids and all customers.”

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Senator Roger Wicker, one other Republican, agreed. “Youngsters of America are hooked on their product. There may be cynical data on behalf of those Large Tech firms that that is true,” he mentioned.

Fb spokesman Kevin McAlister mentioned in an e mail forward of the listening to that the corporate sees defending its neighborhood as extra necessary than maximizing earnings and mentioned it was not correct that leaked inside analysis demonstrated that Instagram was “poisonous” for teenage women.

Haugen revealed she was the one who offered paperwork utilized in a Wall Avenue Journal investigation https://www.reuters.com/know-how/facebook-oversight-board-seeks-clarity-review-system-high-profile-users-2021-09-21 and a Senate listening to on Instagram’s hurt to teenage women.

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Final week, Antigone Davis, Fb’s international head of security, defended the corporate and mentioned that it was in search of to launch further inside research in an effort to be extra clear about its findings.

Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, mentioned she would write a letter to Fb to insist that it not delete paperwork associated to Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority Rohingya. An aide mentioned she would ask for broader retention of paperwork.

Haugen mentioned Fb had additionally executed too little to stop its web site from being utilized by folks planning violence.

Fb was utilized by folks planning mass killings in Myanmar and the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who have been decided to toss out the 2020 election outcomes.

Senator Edward Markey, chatting with the absent Zuckerberg, mentioned through the listening to: “Your time of invading our privateness, and preying on kids is over. Congress will likely be taking motion.”

All through the listening to lawmakers lambasted Zuckerberg, who they mentioned was going crusing slightly than dealing with his duties. The CEO this weekend posted a video taken with the corporate’s new good glasses of his spouse in a ship. https://www.instagram.com/television/CUlJKmYBjwa/ (Reporting by Diane Bartz, Elizabeth Culliford, David Shepardson and Sheila Dang; Enhancing by Mark Porter and Grant McCool)