A series of leaks revealed what critics of Facebook have suspected for a long time: that the company is aware of the harm its products can inflict. The leaks, which were published by the Wall Street Journal in September, showed that Facebook knows that Instagram can exacerbate mental health issues in teenage girls; that human traffickers and drug cartels freely use its services; that its algorithms reward inflammatory content, and that “elite” users are treated differently.
The whistleblower behind the leaks, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, revealed her identity for the first time in an interview with US news show 60 Minutes on 3 October. She then appeared before the US Congress, where she shared testimony about her experiences working for the social media giant.
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