Former Facebook Manager alleges Social Network Fed Capitol Riot!

Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen claimed on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that a 2018 adjustment to the material flow in Facebook’s news feeds lead to more divisiveness and ill will in a network purportedly meant to bring people closer together in an interview aired on Sunday, October 3, 2021.

After Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in last year’s elections, Facebook turned off measures designed to stop misinformation and rabble-rousing in a money-making move that a company whistleblower claims contributed to the fatal January 6 assault on the US Capitol.

He goes on to say Despite the anger that the new algorithms stoked, Facebook discovered that they helped users return, a tendency that helped the Menlo Park, California-based firm sell more of the digital ads that make up the majority of its revenue.

Mr Frances Haugen, who joined Facebook in 2019 after working at Google and Pinterest, stated, “What I witnessed at Facebook over and over again was conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook.”

“And Facebook has often chosen to optimise for its own interests, such as making more money.”

According to FactSet’s survey of analysts, Facebook’s yearly income has more than quadrupled from $56 billion in 2018 to a forecast $119 billion this year.

Meanwhile, the company’s market valuation has risen to roughly $1 trillion from $375 billion at the end of 2018.

In a message emailed to Facebook staff on Friday, Nick Clegg, the company’s vice president of policy and public affairs, said, “Social media has had a major impact on society in recent years, and Facebook is often a site where much of this debate plays out.”

“However, the evidence we have does not support the notion that Facebook, or social media in general, is the primary source of polarisation.”

The “60 Minutes” interview adds to the already intense scrutiny of Facebook by lawmakers and regulators around the world, who are looking into the social media giant’s enormous capacity to change attitudes and polarising effects on society.

Since The Wall Street Journal published an expose in mid-September revealing Facebook’s own internal research concluding the social network’s attention-seeking algorithms had helped foster political dissent and contributed to mental health and emotional difficulties among youths, the backlash has grown.