Recent Frances Haugen Commentaries

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What Happens When Enough People Are Fed Enough False Information?
In Michael Morell’s 2015 book, The Great War of Our Time, the former CIA deputy director begins with a stunning statement: “the threat of terrorism did not die with Bin Ladin in Abbottabad,” and, left unchecked, is the greatest threat to America. It’s an extraordinary book with details and insight that are both overwhelmingly thought-provoking and frightening. However, when misinformation...
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December 14, 2021
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How Do We Fix Facebook? – Part 2
Easier said than done. However, Frances Haugen, the former Facebook data scientist who came forward with thousands of internal documents to back up her claims that the engagement-based algorithms created by the tech giant are used to deepen “divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies,” has been in talks with the House Judiciary...
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October 22, 2021
How Do We Fix Facebook?
Embed from Getty Images Facebook is optimizing “content that gets engagement, a reaction, but its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing, it’s easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions.” Haugen, a former data scientist who worked for Facebook, came forward with thousands of documents that show...
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October 19, 2021
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The Insiders
Jeffrey Wigand and Frances Haugen have two things in common. Both blew the whistle on impropriety within their respective companies, and both appeared on the news show, 60 Minutes to tell their stories. At the social media company, Facebook, Haugen—with a degree in computer engineering, and a master’s degree in business from Harvard—has 15 years experience in the computer world...
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October 8, 2021

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
Faith in The Goodness of Ordinary People, Even in The Darkest Hours
During his years in wartime London, U.S. Ambassador John Gilbert Winant absorbed the suffering around him. He was known for walking the streets during the...
The Forgotten Statesman and the Freedom He Helped Preserve
John Gilbert Winant was one of the rarest of figures in public life: a three-term Republican governor from New Hampshire whose leadership wasn’t calculated but...
“What Is Essential Is Invisible to The Eye.”
That line from The Little Prince by French aviator and author, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is the essence of the story and the essence of what...
The Move That Mattered Most
I’ve played chess about two dozen times, and every match feels less like a game and more like mental boot camp. It’s not difficult; it’s...
The Difference Between Right and Rights
“There’s a difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said...
Integrity and Edmund G. Ross
Moments of character often define a person—sometimes even a nation. I first came across Senator Ross’s story when reading President Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. What...