What to do about Facebook

Leaked internal documents and whistle-blower testimony have raised questions about Facebook, their harmful practices and if more oversight is necessary.

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Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Captiol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (Matt McClain/AP, Pool)

Former Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Captiol Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (Matt McClain/AP, Pool)

Facebook whistle-blower Frances Haugen testified before the Senate on Tuesday about the social media giant’s harmful practices. The former product manager came forward as the source of leaked documents behind The Wall Street Journal’s expose on the company that showed Facebook knew about the harm it was causing users – including damaging the mental health of teens — but repeatedly put profits first. We’ll talk about what we are learning about the company and some of their problematic policies, decisions and algorithms, the impact on users and our democracy, and if oversight is the answer. Our guests are New York Times technology reporter CECILIA KANG, co-author of The Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination, NATE PERSILY, professor of law and director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, and ROBYN CAPLAN, senior researcher at Data & Society.

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