· An ex-employee of, Facebook, has alleged that its lack of control over harmful content is promoting ethnic violence in Ethiopia.
· This was revealed by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager who is a member of the “civic integrity” team studying and recommending solutions to fight harmful practices on the site.
An ex-employee of, Facebook, has alleged that its lack of control over harmful content is promoting ethnic violence in Ethiopia. This was revealed by Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager who is a member of the “civic integrity” team studying and recommending solutions to fight harmful practices on the site.
While giving evidence this week to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security of the United States Senate, she alleged that Facebook had failed to act on the information its staff had provided because of concerns about the impact on the company’s revenues. In her opening statement, she cited examples of divisive and extremist behaviours in Myanmar and Ethiopia. She warned that ‘’without action, divisive and extremist behaviours we see today are only the beginning. What we saw in Mayanmar [formerly Burma] and are now seeing in Ethiopia are only the opening chapters of a story so terrifying no one wants to read the end of it.”
The Wall Street Journal had covered stories of Facebook documents showing that employees have been worried about the way the site was misused in developing countries. According to TechCrunch, employees were perturbed about armed groups in Ethiopia using the platform to coordinate violent attacks against ethnic minorities.
Frances Haugen informed the Senate sub-committee that 87 percent of “integrity funding” – spent by Facebook on fighting misinformation – was spent on content in English, though only nine percent of Facebook users were English speakers. In Ethiopia, she said “integrity systems” were used for only two of six languages used.
Facebook founder, CEO and chairman, Mark Zuckerberg, responded that the allegations were baseless strongly and that his company cared deeply about issues like safety, well-being, and mental health.
