A Facebook chief spokesperson said the company is prepared to subject itself to greater oversight to ensure that its algorithms are performing as intended and are not harming users.
Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, defended the company’s business practices against accusations from a whistleblower that it put profit ahead of users’ well-being.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” Clegg said, “Algorithms should be “taken into account, if required by regulation, so that people can match our systems to what they say they really should do.” — Sunday performance to.
Clegg also said that Facebook is ready to replace a 1996 provision of US law that exempts companies from liability for what users post. Facebook is open to limiting those protections “contingent on the systems and their policies being enforced on them,” he said.
Last week, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, told a panel on the Senate Commerce Committee that the company’s pursuit of profits sparked a split and harmed young users’ mental health. Her testimony came on the heels of a series of stories by the Wall Street Journal, based on internal Facebook research that Haugen shared. Haugen also sent information to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The testimony sparked recent efforts by lawmakers to pass legislation to more heavily regulate the social-media giant. Lawmakers are considering bills that, among other things, limit protections against prosecution for such companies and increase user-privacy protections.
Senator Amy Klobuchar said the whistleblower allegations show that antitrust enforcement needs to be strengthened. The Minnesota Democrat blamed Congress’s inaction on lobbying by the tech industry.
Klobuchar said on “State of the Union,” “Every corner you go, there’s tech lobbyists, there’s money they’re throwing around town, making lawmakers listen to facts instead of were listening to them.” . “
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