Facebook “Whistleblower” Gets Rockstar Reception from EU Policymakers Targeting Tech

Report from the New York Times

In Brief – While Facebook “Whistleblower” Frances Haugen received uniformly positive feedback from the Senators during her three hours of testimony before the Commerce Committee’s Consumer Protection Subcommittee, she has also reached out to policymakers in the UK, France and the European Commission who are already moving forward on landmark digital regulations. As has been detailed through Wall Street Journal reports and an appearance on 60 Minutes, the former Facebook employee downloaded thousands of internal Facebook documents on a huge number of controversial topics, and is publicly criticizing Facebook’s business model, operations, global reach and leaders. She is calling for government regulations to address algorithms, privacy and access for outside researchers to internal company data. Many of her recommendations align with the European Union’s legislative plans to regulate content moderation through the Digital Services Act (DSA) and police the largest platforms for anticompetitive conduct through the Digital Markets Act (DMA). European Commissioners Thierry Bretton and Vera Jourova have each spoken directly to Haugen and claim her findings confirm their regulatory plans, while the European Parliament and British Parliament are both inviting her to testify before their panels.

Context – While US Senators may all agree that Facebook is terrible, below the surface Haugen’s policy recommendations are not bipartisan in Washington. She argues that only government regulators can be trusted with the tough decisions that face social media and other companies using algorithms. As we said last week, don’t expect a US Digital Regulator anytime soon. But Haugen’s messages resonate loud and clear with advocates for the DSA and DMA in Europe. Regulation is coming there. As Google moves to demonetize online content that their algorithms determine is climate change “denial”, watch to see if Republicans appear any more comfortable with government regulators stepping in to set the standards.