Former employee Frances Haugen files a complaint with the company for its malpractice. The multinational responds by trying to discredit the informer and denying her version of events
Mark Zuckerberg, the leader of the trio of social networks Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has defended his empire against the accusations of Frances Haugen, a data engineer of one of his companies, affirmed in the US Congress that the technology giant Facebook prioritized profit in detriment to safety.
“At the heart of these accusations is the idea that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being. It’s just not true, ”Zuckerberg said in a lengthy post on his Facebook page. The employer assures that his company “cares a lot” for “the safety, well-being and mental health” of people and stressed that the work and the motives of the company are being “misrepresented”.
“Many of the statements do not make any sense. If we wanted to ignore research, why would we create an industry-leading research program to understand these important questions in the first place? If we didn’t worry about fighting harmful content, why would we employ more dedicated people than any other company in our space, even those that are bigger than us? ”The billionaire wrote.
Regarding Haugen’s criticism that “Facebook products harm children,” the businessman stated that it is “very important” for him to build a “safe and good” online environment for any minor, as he very often reflects about the kinds of experiences you want for your children and any other child with access to the Web. “We are deeply committed to doing industry leading work in this area. A good example of this work is Messenger Kids, which is widely recognized as better and safer than other alternatives, “he argued.
Zuckerberg also highlights that his company cares about the mental health and well-being of adolescents and the effects that social networks have on them. In this sense, he promised to “do more research and make more studies available to the public.” He also recalled that they have spent years “advocating for an updated regulation of the Internet” regarding the areas they consider most important: “elections, harmful content, privacy and competition.”
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