Since it was revealed publicly in early October, the former employee of the social network has testified before parliamentarians from several countries, in the United States but also in the United Kingdom and France, as well as in the European Parliament.
This engineer who left Facebook in May has, each time, portrayed her former employer as a group overwhelmed by its own influence but also reluctant to change algorithms and recommendations if it risked reducing traffic to the social network.
On Wednesday, before the House of Representatives' subcommittee on technology and communications, Frances Haugen asked elected officials to quickly reform the legal framework for social networks.
“You have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create new rules for our online world,” she explained.
“Facebook wants to see you embroiled in too long a debate about the details of the different legislative approaches. Please don't fall into this trap. Time matters.”
The hearing of Frances Haugen came within the framework of a possible reform of section 230, a law which excludes the responsibility of websites for content published by third parties on these platforms.
Several bills have been tabled to reform these provisions, but while they agree on the need for change, Democrats and Republicans are not aligned on the terms.
The former want, overall, to force site operators to better control content while the Republicans want to guarantee freedom of expression and limit the platform's interventions.
© 2021 AFP