Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell on Tuesday referred to as on Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to protect all paperwork associated to an affidavit final week from firm whistleblower Frances Haugen.

“The testimony … raises significant concerns about whether Facebook has misled the public, federal regulators, and this committee,” stated Cantwell, a Democrat. “This committee will continue its oversight and work to pursue legislation to protect consumers’ privacy, improve data security, and strengthen federal enforcement to address the digital harms that are the subject of these hearings.”

She requested Facebook to protect and retain inner Facebook analysis referenced by Haugen and Facebook’s analysis of the analysis; rating or composition techniques; experiments or suggestions to alter these rating techniques and the influence of Facebook’s platforms on kids and youngsters underneath the age of 18.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone stated in response the corporate has “absolutely no commercial incentive, no moral incentive, no company-wide incentive to do anything other than to try to give the maximum number of people as much of a positive experience as possible on Facebook.”

Cantwell’s letter cited “the potential danger that social media platforms pose for spreading divisive content was demonstrated, with horrifying consequences, by the role the Facebook platform played in fomenting ethnic violence against the Rohingya.”

She added “the role of Facebook’s platform in the Rohingya tragedy illustrates the horrible consequences that failing to effectively limit the spread of divisive content on social media platforms can have in inflicting public harm.”

Last month, a US decide ordered Facebook to launch information of accounts related to anti-Rohingya violence in Myanmar that the social media big had shut down, rejecting its argument about defending privateness as “rich with irony.”

Last week, the Commerce Committee harshly criticised Facebook, accusing Zuckerberg of pushing for increased income whereas being cavalier about person security, and demanded regulators examine whistleblower accusations that the social media firm harms kids’s psychological well being and stokes divisions.

Zuckerberg defended the corporate, saying the accusations had been at odds with Facebook’s targets.

Haugen referred to as for transparency about how Facebook entices customers to maintain scrolling, creating ample alternative for advertisers to achieve them.

Haugen, a former product supervisor on Facebook’s civic misinformation group, left the almost $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 75,43,150 crores) firm with tens of hundreds of confidential paperwork.

© Thomson Reuters 2021