Whistleblower says Facebook put profit before reining in hate speech

A Facebook Inc whistleblower on Sunday accused the social media giant of repeatedly prioritizing profit over clamping down on hate speech and misinformation, and said her lawyers have filed at least eight complaints with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on the civic misinformation team at Facebook, appeared on Sunday on the CBS television program "60 Minutes," revealing her identity as the whistleblower who provided the documents that underpinned a Wall Street Journal investigation and a Senate hearing on Instagram`s harm to teen girls.

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https://whistlebloweraid.org/#, confirmed a New York Times report that some of the internal documents have been shared with attorneys general from several states including California, Vermont and Tennessee.

Tye said the complaints were filed to the SEC on the basis that as a publicly-traded company, Facebook is required to not lie to its investors, or even withhold material information.

The complaints compare Facebook`s internal research with its public statements on the issues it researched, according to the 60 Minutes interview.

Tye said Haugen has also spoken with lawmakers in Europe and is scheduled to appear before the British parliament later this month, in hopes of spurring regulatory action.

He and Haugen are also interested in speaking with lawmakers from countries in Asia, since many of the issues that motivated Haugen stem from the region, including the ethnic violence in Myanmar, he added.

Whistleblower Aid, which is representing Haugen pro-bono, has also launched a GoFundMe to raise $50,000 for her legal costs.