By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, says the social media giant does not prioritize engagement and user growth over safety. That contradicts Senate testimony by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who claims Facebook knows its systems harm vulnerable people and hasn't made meaningful changes to prevent it. The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, Haugen says.
Facebook has pushed back on Haugen's claims but hasn't pointed to any factual errors in her testimony or in a series of reports that outlined massive shortcomings at the social network, identified by its own internal research.
Bickert spoke following Haugen's Senate testimony on Oct. 5. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Does Facebook prioritize engagement and profit over safety?
Bickert: We do not and we have not prioritized engagement over safety. I've been at this company for more than nine years. I'm a mother. I also was a criminal prosecutor and worked on child safety for more than 10 years. And I can tell you I wouldn't be at this company if we weren't prioritizing safety.
Q: You've said repeatedly that the majority of teens have a positive experience on Instagram, but your research showed that some teens are harmed. What is Facebook doing specifically to address the issues that your own research raised?
Bickert: The entire reason that we do research is because we understand that even if the majority of teens are getting support from their time on Instagram, even if a few teens are having a bad experience or a small number of teens are having a bad experience, that's too many, and we need to build features and products to support them. And that's exactly what we've done over the years.
Q: Is your repeated reference to the documents as stolen a signal that you're planning to sue the whistleblower or retaliate against her in another way?
Bickert: I can't answer that. I can only tell you that this was an employee who didn't work on these issues, and I do work on these issues and want to represent the hard work that the more than 40,000 employees working on safety and security at Facebook do every day.
Q: Can you point to anything in her testimony that was not truthful?
Bickert: A number of these documents have been mischaracterized, including the research on Instagram use. The suggestion that the research showed that Instagram is somehow a toxic experience is simply not true, and we've now published that research. Look, I want to be clear this is not peer reviewed research. We do have a serious research program at Facebook. We participated in more than 400 research articles in the last year alone. These stolen documents show more of a survey, so this is not peer reviewed research, but that stolen survey has been misrepresented as suggesting that Instagram is a toxic environment for teens.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More