Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen has driven the point home against the social network.

She said Monday, October 25 before British MPs in London, that posting hateful content "is the best way to grow" on the social network, and called for stronger legislation.

According to the whistleblower, who leaked studies showing that Facebook is aware of the harmfulness of its platform, knows "without question" that it is spreading hatred online.

The computer scientist, who echoed what she said in the US Congress this month, told the British Parliament that Facebook uses a system that prioritizes content that gets the most clicks, invariably the content that creates the most clicks. no more opposition.

"I am deeply concerned that it is not possible to make Instagram safe for 14 year olds and I sincerely doubt that it is possible to make it safe for 10 year olds," she added. .

Request for human interventions

In the range of failures of which she accuses Facebook, figure that of regulating the important groups where disinformation proliferates, or the underinvestment in its products which are not in English, endangering companies already suffering from ethnic divisions. and religious.

This is particularly the case in "rarer languages ​​or dialects such as Ethiopia", quotes our correspondent in Los Angeles, Loïc Pialat. 

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According to her, "flexible" and up-to-date legislation is needed, as content and social networks evolve.

"We need ways to hold these companies to account," she added, calling for more human intervention rather than algorithms and artificial intelligence.

As part of its online safety bill, the UK government is considering introducing criminal penalties against those responsible for companies who fail to tackle harmful content on their platform.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and the social network have already spoken out against Frances Haugen's accusations.

The social network responds with figures, recalling that it has invested 13 billion dollars and recruited 40,000 people to moderate the content posted on its platform. 

With AFP

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