US lawmakers pounded Facebook on Tuesday, accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg of pushing for greater income whereas being cavalier about person security, they usually demanded regulators examine whistleblower accusations that the social media firm harms youngsters’s psychological well being and stokes divisions.

Zuckerberg, hours later in a public Facebook publish, defended the corporate, saying the accusations have been at odds with Facebook’s objectives.

“The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” he wrote. “We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don’t know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed.”

During a Senate Commerce subcommittee listening to, whistleblower Frances Haugen referred to as for transparency about how Facebook entices customers to maintain scrolling, creating ample alternative for advertisers to achieve them.

“As long as Facebook is operating in the shadows, hiding its research from public scrutiny, it is unaccountable,” mentioned Haugen, a former product supervisor on Facebook’s civic misinformation group. She left the almost $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 74,57,360 crores) firm with tens of hundreds of confidential paperwork.

“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. Congressional action is needed,” Haugen mentioned.

In an period when bipartisanship is uncommon in Washington, lawmakers from each events excoriated the corporate, illustrating the rising anger in Congress with Facebook, which additionally owns Instagram and WhatsApp.

Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, mentioned he was involved how Facebook and subsidiaries like Instagram affected the psychological well being of kids. “We’re going to look back 20 years from now and all of us are going to be like, ‘What the hell were we thinking?'”

Haugen revealed she was the one that offered paperwork utilized in a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate listening to on Instagram’s hurt to teenage ladies. She in contrast the social media companies to addictive substances like tobacco and opioids.

Panel chair Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, mentioned Facebook knew that its merchandise have been addictive. “Tech now faces that big tobacco jaw-dropping moment of truth,” he mentioned.

He referred to as for Zuckerberg to testify earlier than the committee, and for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission to research Facebook.

“Our children are the ones who are victims. Teens today looking in the mirror feel doubt and insecurity. Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror,” Blumenthal mentioned.

Blumenthal mentioned after the listening to that he would wish to ask Zuckerberg why he rejected suggestions to make merchandise safer for customers.

Zuckerberg, in his publish, mentioned Facebook wouldn’t cease researching its societal impression. But he wrote that Congress wanted to replace guidelines to clarify the authorized age for teenagers to make use of web companies, the right way to confirm their ages and the place to “balance teens’ privacy while giving parents visibility into their activity.”

Shares up

Facebook’s shares rose 2 p.c on Tuesday to shut at $332.96 (roughly Rs. 24,840), roughly 13 p.c beneath the document closing excessive on September 7.

Coming a day after Facebook suffered an hours-long outage, Haugen pointed to the outage in her testimony: “For more than five hours Facebook wasn’t used to deepen divides, destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies.”

As lawmakers criticized Facebook, the corporate’s spokespeople fired again on Twitter and in statements, arguing that Haugen didn’t work instantly on among the matters being raised.

“We don’t agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about,” Facebook spokeswoman Lena Pietsch mentioned.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, accused Facebook of turning a blind eye to youngsters beneath age 13 on its companies. “It is clear that Facebook prioritizes profit over the well-being of children and all users,” she mentioned.

Last week, Antigone Davis, Facebook’s world head of security, defended the corporate in entrance of Congress and mentioned that it was looking for to launch extra inner research in an effort to be extra clear about its findings.

Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Commerce Committee, mentioned she would write Facebook to insist that it not delete paperwork associated to Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority Rohingya. An aide mentioned she would ask for broader retention of paperwork.

A US federal choose final month had ordered Facebook to launch information of accounts linked to anti-Rohingya violence in Myanmar that the social media firm had shut down.

Haugen mentioned she would encourage “oversight and public scrutiny” into Facebook’s content material advice algorithms and their penalties. She recommended making a devoted physique throughout the federal authorities to supervise social media corporations.

Blumenthal mentioned he would possibly wish to maintain an extra listening to to debate nationwide safety points associated to Facebook.

Haugen mentioned Facebook had additionally accomplished too little to stop violence.

Facebook was utilized by folks planning mass killings in Myanmar and the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who have been decided to toss out the 2020 election outcomes.

Senator Edward Markey, chatting with the absent Zuckerberg, mentioned in the course of the listening to: “Your time of invading our privacy and preying on children is over. Congress will be taking action.”

Throughout the listening to lawmakers referred to Zuckerberg as going crusing as an alternative of going through his tasks. The CEO this weekend posted a video taken with the corporate’s new sensible glasses of his spouse in a ship.

© Thomson Reuters 2021