Frances Haugen: Why is this ex-Facebook employee making news?

Frances Haugen was a well-paid employee at Facebook. As Product Manager, she also had the chance, and the responsibility, to enforce laws protecting the social media handle’s users from any harm caused by the way the company functioned. But she grew increasingly dissatisfied at her job, till she quit it and went public with data that points a finger at Facebook. Frances Haugen has been bagging headlines through the autumn of 2021. Let’s learn a bit more about this incident that reads like a suspense novel.  

Who is Frances Haugen?  
Frances Haugen, who is 37, started her Silicon Valley career in 2006 as a software engineer, working in companies like Google, Yelp and Pinterest. She took a career break to study an MBA at Harvard Business School, making her further preferable for employers looking for senior managers. In 2018, Frances Haugen joined Facebook.  

What did Haugen notice at Facebook that alarmed her? 
Haugen was part of the company’s civic integrity team. Soon, she began to doubt her employer’s commitment towards cleaning up its network of hate speeches and false accounts with political motives. After Facebook disbanded the civic integrity group following last year’s US election, she decided it was time to act at the cost of her job. So she resigned and started collating and preparing proof against Facebook.  

How did Haugen go about exposing Facebook?  
Haugen began preparing for the exposition early. She got herself a group of supporters, engineers, activists and lawyers. Before going public, she worked with the Wall Street Journal to package documents she brought with her from Facebook and published a series of stories. These stories already gave out fact and figures on how the social media company willingly put profits before the wellbeing of its users, by leaking user data, supporting political accounts, allowing rioting and hate inciting posts, and being carefully selective about cleaning up these accounts to mislead activists, users, governments, police and all involved. Haugen had a website ready before going on a hour long programme on TV and then presenting her case to the US senate.   

What is Facebook saying?  
Facebook is defending itself by claiming she did not know enough to make these claims. They are also trying to portray her as criminally minded and greedy. The end is still far, and suspense in building up over who will win the battle.