Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Facebook promotes hate to make money, whistleblower claims

Facebook promotes hate to make money, whistleblower claims

The social media giant knows hate speech is a problem. It also knows it's profitable, a former employee claimed on Sunday.

Facebook's business model promotes hate speech, damages democracy and is even "tearing our societies apart," a former product manager of the company's civic misinformation team has said.

Frances Haugen, who left Facebook in May this year, was the whistleblower who leaked internal company research - including reports that reveal Instagram's impact on teenage girls' mental health - to the Wall Street Journal last month.

Speaking to American TV network CBS on Sunday, Haugen said that her experience working for Facebook revealed a company that prioritised growth over making its product safer.

"The thing I saw over and over again was that there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook," Haugen told CBS's 60 Minutes.

"Facebook over and over again chose to optimise for its own interests, like making more money," she said.

'Betrayal of democracy'


Haugen joined Facebook in June 2019, working on a team tasked with tackling misinformation around elections.

In the run-up to the United States' presidential elections in November 2020, Facebook announced a raft of measures it said would help connect voters to accurate information and reduce "the risks of post-election confusion".

Shortly after the election took place, however, the team was dissolved.

Haugen claimed Facebook then rolled back many of the interventions it had put in place to limit the spread of misinformation.

"As soon as the election was over, they turned them back off or they changed the settings back to what they were before, to prioritise growth over safety," Haugen said.

"And that really feels like a betrayal of democracy to me".

Capitol riot 'not our fault', Facebook says


In Sunday's interview, Haugen drew a connection between Facebook and the US Capitol riots on January 6, when supporters of former president Donald Trump stormed the seat of the American legislature.

She said that she did not trust the company to "invest what actually needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous".

Facebook's Nick Clegg said it was "ludicrous" to pin the blame for the January 6 Capitol riot on social media companies


Speaking before Haugen's interview was broadcast, Facebook's vice president of policy and global affairs Nick Clegg told CNN that the company did not accept that it was one of the main contributors to political polarisation in the US.

"The insurrection on that day lies squarely with the people who inflicted the violence and those who encouraged them, including President Trump," Clegg said, adding that it was "ludicrous" to pin the blame on social media.

"I think it gives people false confidence to assume that there must be a technological or a technical explanation for the issues of political polarisation in the United States ... It's too easy to say it's Facebook's fault".

Failing to fight hate


According to Facebook documents provided to CBS by Haugen, the company is aware both of the spread of hate speech on its platforms, and also of how challenging a problem it poses.

"We estimate that we may action as little as 3-5 per cent of hate and ~0.6 per cent of V&I [Violence and Incitement] on Facebook despite being the best in the world at it," one internal report said.

"We have evidence from a variety of sources that hate speech, divisive political speech, and misinformation on Facebook and the family of apps are affecting societies around the world," said another.

According to Haugen, fixing Facebook's hate speech problem could take more than heavier content moderation and stricter rules.

'It's easier to inspire anger'


A 2018 change to the algorithm that decides which pieces of content are shown to users inadvertently ended up giving Facebook users information that was more likely to trigger an angry response, Haugen told CBS.

"[Facebook] is optimising for content that gets engagement, a reaction," she said.

"But its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarising - it's easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions".

Haugen's leaks have prompted condemnation from lawmakers in the US, where Facebook has been called to testify before a Senate committee


Haugen alleged that the company was unwilling to change the algorithm as it could impact the business's bottom line.

"Facebook has realised that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they'll click on less ads, they'll make less money," she said.

Despite the seriousness of the allegations she levelled at the company, Haugen said she empathised with Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

"No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned," she said.

"Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an emotional reaction, and the more anger they get exposed to, the more they interact and the more they consume".

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
Wave of Complaints Against Apple Over iPhone 17 Pro’s Scratch Sensitivity
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
×