LILLE, France: The departure of controversial Facebook govt Sheryl Sandberg is unlikely to improve the troubled social media large, whistleblower Frances Haugen instructed AFP.
Haugen, a former Facebook engineer who leaked inside paperwork final yr suggesting the agency put earnings earlier than security, identified that Sandberg’s substitute got here from a workforce whose remit was to assist the agency to develop.
The “growth team” was a part of the issue and the choice confirmed the corporate was “not listening to the heart of the critiques”, she stated.
Sandberg, the quantity two at Facebook father or mother Meta, shocked Silicon Valley final week by asserting she was stepping down after 14 years on the agency, steering its rise from area of interest social community to ad-tech juggernaut.
But she had more and more turn into the general public face of a agency beset by scandals over misinformation, information safety and even accusations of fuelling ethnic violence.
Haugen’s leaked paperwork instructed executives knew their platforms may gas hate speech and harm the psychological well being of younger folks.
The revelations led to large criticism of Sandberg and her boss, Mark Zuckerberg, whose enterprise – renamed Meta in 2021 – additionally contains Instagram and WhatsApp.
‘Did she do enough?’
Haugen, talking to AFP this week forward of addressing a cybersecurity discussion board in Lille in northern France, stated there was a “fundamental tension” about Sandberg’s position.
“Did she do enough to stand up to Mark, or to demand Mark be a better leader? I don’t think so.”
She praised Sandberg, although, for establishing a strategic response workforce in 2018 to fight efforts to misuse the community.
“Sheryl did set up the parts of the company that were actively concerned with the safety of people who live in fragile places like Ethiopia,” she stated.
But she stated it “doesn’t seem particularly promising” that Sandberg can be changed by Javier Olivan, the top of Meta’s “growth team”.
In asserting Olivan’s promotion, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook that he had a “strong track record of making our execution more efficient and rigorous”.
Haugen wished him luck in his new position however stated the expansion workforce embodied “many of the things that I consider problematic about Facebook”.
Much of Haugen’s criticism stemmed from a central accusation that Facebook had pursued progress and revenue with no concern for the security or wellbeing of its customers.
The progress workforce was central to that effort.
“The fact that the person who got to replace Sheryl comes from that part of the organisation feels that they are not really listening to the heart of the critiques,” stated Haugen.
Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Optimism on Musk
Haugen has by no means fitted the stereotypical whistleblower picture of a scrappy outsider – she has rich backers and a slick marketing campaign that has seen her addressing parliaments all over the world.
She instructed AFP in an interview final yr she deliberate to begin a youth motion to assist empower younger folks to take cost of their on-line lives.
Aside from Facebook, she is sanguine about different latest developments in tech.
The saga of Elon Musk’s on-off takeover of Twitter, for instance, has left many commentators questioning whether or not the billionaire magnate would possibly do extra hurt than good to the social media agency.
But Haugen reckons he would possibly simply be on to one thing, saying she was “cautiously optimistic”.
“Part of why Facebook makes bad decisions is because it’s a publicly traded company,” she stated.
“Elon Musk taking Twitter private provides an opportunity to go and do the house cleaning that Twitter needs.”
And she is heartened by a brand new European Union legislation – often known as the Digital Services Act – that forces social media to regulate content material.
She stated it ought to break open the tech giants to impartial scrutiny, which was a “really, really good deal”.
Overall, she stated her revelations had made a constructive influence – Facebook has doubled its spending on security and employees engaged on issues of safety say they’ve more room to function.
“I’m incredibly heartened by how seriously leaders around the world have taken us,” she stated.
“We have different conversations now about what social media should be.” – AFP
