Frances Haugen: Whistleblower of Facebook and Its Story in Film
10 june 2026 в 20:37
Thanks to Aaron Sorkin’s film «The Social Network», - viewers will once again become acquainted with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, a talented engineer, product manager, and scientist. At the end of 2021, Haugen revealed her identity after making shocking allegations against the social network. In the film, actress Miki Madison portrayed the real Haugen.
Frances Haugen worked as a product manager in Facebook’s Civic Integrity division. She was hired in 2019 and left the company, now known as Meta, in 2021.
Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Haugen studied electrical engineering and computer engineering at Franklin W. Olin College, and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
After the Wall Street Journal published internal documents about Facebook’s rule violations and how Instagram affects the mental health of teenagers, Haugen revealed her identity in an interview on «60 Minutes» in October 2021. In this interview, she explained why she left the company.
«I saw a lot of social networks, and Facebook was significantly worse than what I had seen before», - she claimed. «Facebook repeatedly shows that it chooses profit over safety».
The scientist made several shocking statements against Mark Zuckerberg’s platform, including that Facebook allegedly contributed to misinformation during the elections and the January 6 insurrection, which the company denied. Nick Clegg, Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications, told CNN that Facebook represents «the good, the bad, and the ugly in humanity» and that the company is trying to «reduce the bad, cut it down, and amplify the good», - adding that Haugen’s claim that social media is to blame for the January 6 insurrection is «ridiculous».
Haugen continued in her interview: «Their own research shows that content that is hateful, divisive, and polarizing triggers anger in people more easily than other emotions. Facebook realized that if they changed the algorithm to make it safer, people would spend less time on the site, click on fewer ads, and consequently make less money».
Shortly after leaving Facebook in 2021, Haugen became an author, publishing her memoir «The Power of One: How I Found the Courage to Tell the Truth and Why I Became a Facebook Whistleblower».
Additionally, Haugen joined the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University as a senior resident to support its research, according to a press release from May 2023
Frances Haugen worked as a product manager in Facebook’s Civic Integrity division. She was hired in 2019 and left the company, now known as Meta, in 2021.
Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Haugen studied electrical engineering and computer engineering at Franklin W. Olin College, and later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.
After the Wall Street Journal published internal documents about Facebook’s rule violations and how Instagram affects the mental health of teenagers, Haugen revealed her identity in an interview on «60 Minutes» in October 2021. In this interview, she explained why she left the company.
«I saw a lot of social networks, and Facebook was significantly worse than what I had seen before», - she claimed. «Facebook repeatedly shows that it chooses profit over safety».
The scientist made several shocking statements against Mark Zuckerberg’s platform, including that Facebook allegedly contributed to misinformation during the elections and the January 6 insurrection, which the company denied. Nick Clegg, Vice President of Global Affairs and Communications, told CNN that Facebook represents «the good, the bad, and the ugly in humanity» and that the company is trying to «reduce the bad, cut it down, and amplify the good», - adding that Haugen’s claim that social media is to blame for the January 6 insurrection is «ridiculous».
Haugen continued in her interview: «Their own research shows that content that is hateful, divisive, and polarizing triggers anger in people more easily than other emotions. Facebook realized that if they changed the algorithm to make it safer, people would spend less time on the site, click on fewer ads, and consequently make less money».
Shortly after leaving Facebook in 2021, Haugen became an author, publishing her memoir «The Power of One: How I Found the Courage to Tell the Truth and Why I Became a Facebook Whistleblower».
Additionally, Haugen joined the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University as a senior resident to support its research, according to a press release from May 2023
© Smirnova Olga
