Communications of the ACM
Another Facebook Whistleblower Just Testified in British Parliament
Whistleblower Sophie Zhang told British lawmakers that during her time as a Facebook employee, she discovered a dangerous loophole in company rules: while Facebook ensures authenticity of personal accounts, it has no policy to regulate Pages set up for bu
Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
While appearing before a committee of lawmakers in the British parliament on Monday, Facebook whistleblower Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist for the company, testified that the social media site is allowing authoritarian governments to manipulate political discourse.
Less than two weeks after Frances Haugen's appearance before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, Zhang's first public testimony further implicated Facebook in turning a blind eye to disinformation campaigns in order to prioritize profits.
"It's a company whose official goal is to make money, [it's] more focused on protecting itself," Zhang said.
During the evidence session, which formed part of the British government's drafting of a new bill aimed at tackling harmful content online, Zhang was questioned by lawmakers about her work as a data scientist for the Facebook Site Integrity fake engagement team, dealing with bot accounts, often operated by government-backed agencies.
From Time magazine
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