Commonwealth Policy Center

A Facebook whistleblower testified before Congress about the potential dangers the social media giant poses to many of us, especially kids. Frances Haugen is a former employee of Facebook and, before she left, she copied thousands of documents that revealed the harm of Instagram to teens, and its failure to fight misinformation. Haugen said, “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.” She says Facebook cares more about its profits than ensuring its platform is safe for all, and she is calling for the government to get involved. Governments are responsible to protect the community from harm and exploitation. It’s becoming clearer that social media has been used in harmful ways, in many cases tearing communities apart. We’ll see what Congress does to address this.