Headline RoundupOctober 4th, 2021

Whistleblower Says Facebook is Misleading the Public, Has 'Misaligned' Priorities

Summary from the AllSides News Team

A data scientist and former Facebook employee accused the Big Tech company of privatizing profit over the public good in an interview with 60 Minutes Sunday night. Frances Haugen, who left the Facebook in May after it disbanded her unit that was assessing misinformation on the platform, said that "Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money." She added that "No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned." Haugen is scheduled to testify in Congress Tuesday. The interview followed a series of reports by the Wall Street Journal (Center bias) detailing Facebook's negative impact on teen mental healthneglect towards harmful issues with its algorithms and other scandals, for which a then-unidentified Haugen provided internal documents. Facebook's head of global safety testified before a Senate subcommittee last week and was questioned about the Journal's reports.

The story was covered similarly across the spectrum. Some headlines from left-rated sources highlighted Haugen's mention of Facebook's role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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