Lena Kampf: Facebook prioritizing profit over security?

Senior Fellow Lena Kampf co-wrote an article for the independent German news outlet Tagesschau on Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. Entitled ‘Serious allegations against Facebook status’ (or ‘Schwere Vorwürfe gegen Facebook’ in German), the authors unfold the allegations of Facebook prioritizing its platform’s benefits over security measures.

In the article, Lena and the other authors, Svea Eckert and Georg Mascolo, develop thoroughly the case of Frances Haugen, a former product manager hired to help protect election interference on Facebook. Responsible for leaking a series of controversial Facebook documents to the Wall Street journal, Frances has accused the social media platform of putting profits over user safety. In alarming the dangers of Facebook’s current algorithm, the whistleblower exposes the misleading progress of the platforms fight against hate speech and misinformation.

In addition, the authors unfold the turmoil of the Capitol riots in January 2021. In this case, the tech giant has also been accused of being complicit in the attacks by having prematurely turned off security measures designed to thwart misinformation in the US presidential elections. Further weighing these allegations, an anonymous Facebook employer blames the company for having ‘poured fuel on the fire’ in triggering the riots.

You can find the full article on this Tagesschau webpage.