Who Is Frances Haugen? How A Whistleblower Is Taking On Facebook

WASHINGTON, DC — A former Facebook data scientist appeared before Congress on Tuesday, accusing the company of creating products that "harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy."

Frances Haugen, who in September publicly released tens of thousands of pages of internal documents detailing how Facebook failed to address the negative effects of its products, testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection.

Prior to her testimony, Haugen also filed complaints with federal authorities alleging that Facebook’s own research shows that it amplifies hate, misinformation and political unrest, but the company hides what it knows, according to multiple reports. Another complaint is that Facebook's Instagram harms teenage girls.

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee is examining the allegations.

In her testimony, Haugen claimed Facebook is aware of the apparent harm its products cause and is being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.

"The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people," she said in her testimony. "Congressional action is needed. They won’t solve this crisis without your help."

But who is Frances Haugen?

Haugen stepped into the national spotlight when she came forward as the whistleblower who leaked Facebook's internal documents to The Wall Street Journal. She revealed her identity during a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday.

Haugen, 37, is a data scientist who grew up in Iowa. She was the daughter of two professors and grew up attending the Iowa caucuses with her parents, according to her website, which instilled in her "a strong sense of pride in democracy and responsibility for civic participation."

Haugen attended Olin College, where she earned a degree in computer engineering. She received her master's degree in business from Harvard. For 15 years, she's worked for companies including Google, Pinterest and Yelp.

Haugen was recruited by Facebook in 2019, she told "60 Minutes." Her reason for taking the job was personal: She hoped to work on fighting misinformation because she had lost a friend to online conspiracy theories.

Working as a product manager for Facebook's civic integrity team, Haugen's job was to tackle issues related to democracy and misinformation.

During her time at Facebook, Haugen became "increasingly alarmed" by choices the company made that prioritized profits over public safety.

Before resigning in April 2021, Haugen secretly copied tens of thousands of pages of internal research documents. She submitted those documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and to Congress. The information she released also revealed how Facebook’s algorithm fosters anger to drive engagement, how it favors high-profile users, and how Instagram made nearly one-third of teenage girls who use it feel worse about their bodies.

The problem, according to Haugen, is algorithms — used to decide what shows up on a Facebook user's news feed — and how they favor hateful content.

Haugen said a 2018 change to content flow contributed to more divisiveness, The Associated Press reported. Despite the hostility created by the new algorithms, Facebook found that people kept coming back, ultimately helping the company sell more of the digital ads that generate most of its revenue.

Haugen also told "60 Minutes" that after the 2020 U.S. election, Facebook dissolved the Civic Integrity team, a move she said helped to encourage the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots.

While Facebook increased efforts to fight misinformation leading up to the election, most of those safeguards were either downgraded or turned off "to prioritize growth" once President Joe Biden was the confirmed as the winner, according to a report by Time.

"It hides behind walls that keep the eyes of researchers and regulators from understanding the true dynamics of the system," Haugen told Congress. "We have to just trust what Facebook says is true — and they have repeatedly proved that they do not deserve our blind faith."

Facebook, with 2.8 billion users worldwide and nearly $1 trillion in market value, has rebutted the allegations.

"Even with the most sophisticated technology, which I believe we deploy, even with the tens of thousands of people that we employ to try and maintain safety and integrity on our platform, we’re never going to be absolutely on top of this 100 percent of the time," Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of policy and public affairs, said Sunday on CNN’s "Reliable Sources."

Meanwhile, Haugen previously said she wants to help Facebook, not harm it.

"The problems we are facing today with social media are solvable," Haugen wrote on her website. "We can have social media that brings out the best in humanity."