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Facebook whistleblower brings campaign to Europe after disclosures

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Facebook whistleblower brings campaign to Europe after disclosures

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Facebook has lurched from controversy to controversy since Mark Zuckerberg started it as a Harvard undergrad in 2004. But the actions of Frances Haugen, a former product manager, have created a backlash and public relations crisis that stand apart.

On Monday, she took her tightly choreographed campaign to build a case for stiffer oversight of the social media giant to Europe. In front of British lawmakers Monday, she painted a portrait of a company vividly aware of its harmful effects on society but unwilling to act because doing so could jeopardize profits and growth.

Hours before she began speaking in London, more than a dozen news organizations published articles based on the Facebook Papers, a cache of documents she took before resigning from the company.

“We need regulation,” Haugen said Monday. “Until the incentives change, Facebook will not change,” she added later.

Facebook on Monday said profits in the latest quarter, which ended in September, had risen 17% to $9.2 billion, reflecting the company’s financial strength.

The revelations from Haugen have generated increased political support for new regulation in the United States and Europe, including some calls for Zuckerberg to step aside as Facebook’s CEO.

“Facebook is failing to prevent harm to children, it’s failing to stop the spread of disinformation, it is failing to stop the spread of hate speech,” John Nicolson, a lawmaker from Scotland, said during the hearing on Monday.

Haugen left Facebook with scores of internal research papers, slide decks, discussion threads, presentations and memos that she has shared with lawmakers, regulators and journalists.

After leaking internal company documents to The Wall Street Journal, Haugen revealed her identity this month for an episode of “60 Minutes” and testified before a Senate committee. She also shared the documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Since then, she has shared the Facebook materials with other news organizations.

During a call with financial analysts on Monday, Zuckerberg strongly criticized the news coverage and criticism stemming from Haugen’s leaks.

“My view on what we are seeing is a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to create a false picture about our company,” he said.



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