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Facebook ‘unquestionably’ making hate worse, whistle-blower Frances Haugen tells UK lawmakers
- The former employee appeared before a parliamentary committee that is examining plans to regulate social media companies
- Haugen said Facebook could add moderators to prevent groups from being used to spread extremist views
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Former Facebook data scientist turned whistle-blower Frances Haugen on Monday told lawmakers in the United Kingdom working on legislation to rein in social media platforms that the company is making online hate and extremism worse and outlined how it could improve online safety.
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Haugen appeared before a parliamentary committee scrutinising the British government’s draft legislation to crack down on harmful online content, and her comments could help lawmakers strengthen the rules.
She’s testifying the same day that Facebook is set to release its latest earnings and news organisations have started publishing stories based on thousands of pages of internal company documents she obtained.
Haugen told UK lawmakers how Facebook Groups amplifies online hate, saying algorithms that prioritise engagement take people with mainstream interests and push them to the extremes. She said the company could add moderators to prevent groups from being used to spread extremist views.
“Unquestionably, it’s making hate worse,” she said.
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