Facebook unwilling to take responsibility of its services, says whistleblower

• Whistleblower Frances Haugen said Facebook lacks in local-language staff

• Britain is planning to implement online safety laws to remove illegal content

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told U.K. lawmakers on Monday that the social media giant is not ready to take responsibility of its services.

The former employee, who leaked internal documents showing Instagram’s impact on teengaers’ mental health, was testifying at a U.K. Parliament hearing on new legislation aimed at tackling harmful content online.

“There is an unwillingness at Facebook to acknowledge that they are responsible to anyone,” Haugen said.

She added that the lack of local-language staff at Facebook resulted in failure to understand the toxic or dangerous nature of messages on its platform.

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Facebook, on the other hand, denied charges, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg saying this month that it was illogical to say that Facebook would purposely push content which made people angry.

“Contrary to what was discussed at the hearing, we've always had the commercial incentive to remove harmful content from our sites. People don't want to see it when they use our apps and advertisers don't want their ads next to it," Facebook said in a statement on Monday.

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Facebook said it is pleased that Britain is going ahead with online safety laws.

Britain’s online safety laws

Britain is planning to implement laws that could fine social media giants up to 10% of their turnover, if they are unable to remove illegal content from their platform.

"The events we're seeing around the world, things like Myanmar and Ethiopia, those are the opening chapters because engagement-based ranking does two things: one, it prioritises and amplifies divisive and polarising extreme content and two it concentrates it," Haugen said.

Picture Credits: Reuters