A former
Speaking before the
Efforts to pass new regulations on social media have failed in the past, but senators said Tuesday that new revelations about
Here are some key takeaways from Tuesday's hearing.
Haugen said
The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, she said.
“They are aware of the side effects of the choices they have made around amplification. They know that algorithmic-based rankings, or engagement-based rankings, keeps you on their sites longer. You have longer sessions, you show up more often, and that makes them more money.”
THE WHISTLEBLOWER TOUCHED A NERVE
During the hearing,
Haugen herself made it clear several times that she did not directly work on these issues but based her testimony on the documents she had and her own experience.
But
SMALL CHANGES COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
Making changes to reduce the spread of misinformation and other harmful content wouldn't require a wholesale reinvention of social media, Haugen said. One of the simplest changes could be to just organize posts in chronological order instead of letting computers predict what people want to see based on how much engagement — good or bad — it might attract.
Another was to add one more click before users can easily share content, which she said Facebook knows can dramatically reduce misinformation and hate speech.
“A lot of the changes that I’m talking about are not going to make
She said
“One could reason a kinder, friendlier, more collaborative
A PEAK INSIDE THE COMPANY
Haugen portrayed Facebook’s corporate environment as so machine-like and driven by metrics that it was hard to hit the brakes on known harms that, if addressed, might dent growth and profits.
She described the company’s famously “flat” organizational philosophy -- with few levels of management and an open-floor workplace at its
She said the company didn’t set out to make a destructive platform, but she noted that CEO
“In the end, the buck stops with Mark,” she said.
BIPARTISAN OUTRAGE
“Our differences are very minor, or they seem very minor in the face of the revelations that we’ve now seen, so I’m hoping we can move forward," said Sen.
Still, Democratic Sen. Amy Klubuchar of
“There are lobbyists around every single corner of this building that have been hired by the tech industry,” Klobuchar said. “Facebook and the other tech companies are throwing a bunch of money around this town and people are listening to them.”
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AP Technology Writer
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