Whistleblower compares Facebook to the tobacco industry

Testifying before a US Senate committee, a former Facebook employee drew a parallel between the strategies implemented by the platform and those deployed by the tobacco industry. This comparison was already made in 2020 by another former Facebook employee.

“Facebook will tell you that privacy means they can't trust you with their data. That's not true. When tobacco companies claimed cigarette filters were healthier for consumers, scientists could invalidate those commercial messages and confirm that, in fact, they posed a greater threat to human health. The public can't do the same to Facebook.” said Frances Haugen on October 5, 2021 before the US Senate Commerce Committee, which is currently investigating the responsibility of the famous social network in the deterioration of the mental health of adolescents.[1].

Deliberately orchestrated disinformation at Facebook

A Facebook employee from 2019 to May 2021, Frances Haugen was in charge of algorithmic products for civic disinformation, then counterintelligence. Disgusted by the exploitation of hateful content to inflate the platform's audience and the group's profits, Ms. Haugen left the company, taking with her thousands of pages of confidential documents. She now distributes these documents via the Wall Street Journal or by handing them over to the Senate committee investigating Facebook's practices with teenagers. She has also filed eight complaints against her former employer with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), alleging investor deception.[2].

Frances Haugen believes that the concealment of essential information that harms consumers and the common good in order to maximize profits is one of the similarities between the social network and the tobacco industry. For the tobacco industry, it was a matter of concealing the carcinogenic nature of cigarettes; for Facebook, the free dissemination of hateful or racist messages can lead to influencing minds and provoking clashes or social tensions. The attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021, on the US Congress is thus an example of a situation that Facebook's leaders knowingly allowed to fester in order to maintain strong audiences, even though they were in a position to regulate it. Even more dramatic events pitting communities against each other in deadly ways have also been observed in Ethiopia and Myanmar.[3].

Ms. Haugen also revealed that internal studies have shown how Facebook-owned Instagram can harm the mental health of teenagers, particularly those experiencing depression or body image issues. "It's like cigarettes. Teenagers don't have good self-regulation.", she adds. And as with tobacco, these studies have not been made public, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg claiming the opposite.

In search of greater addictiveness

A similar connection between Facebook and the tobacco industry was made in September 2020 by Tim Kendall, another former Facebook employee who also became a whistleblower. He notably drew a parallel between Facebook's strategy to increase the addictiveness of its platform, by adding status update functions or photo tagging, and the tobacco industry's efforts to optimize the addictive potential of nicotine, by combining it with sugar or menthol.[4].

Before the US Congress, Tim Kendall considered that Facebook was directly inspired by the tobacco industry's approach, with the platform's user "engagement" corresponding to the smoker's addiction. The widespread persistence of hateful content, meanwhile, aims to arouse emotions that encourage users to spend more time and engage more on the network. “Allowing misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fake news […] acted like Big Tobacco’s bronchodilators, allowing cigarette smoke to cover more of the lungs.”, Mr. Kendall said.

Like Tim Kendall, Frances Haugen has implored authorities to regulate Facebook through various means, whether financial or regulatory. Other voices, including Facebook co-founders and former employees, have called for its dismantling. Facebook executives, for their part, have denied these accusations and denounced document theft.

The limits of this rapprochement

In many ways, and despite all the criticism leveled at Facebook, the tobacco industry remains significantly more deadly, with 8 million preventable premature deaths. Tobacco companies continue to be singled out and condemned for their multiple legal violations (child labor, involvement in smuggling, corruption, etc.) even as they deploy initiatives across the board to present a new image.

Keywords: Facebook, tobacco industry, misinformation, addiction ©Photo credit: Matt McClain / POOL/EPA/Newscom/MaxPPP

MF

---

[1] Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen Opening Statement Transcript: Senate Hearing on Children & Social Media, Rev, published October 5, 2021, accessed October 12, 2021. [2] Leloup D, Piquard A, Whistleblower Compares Facebook to the 'Tobacco Industry' and Calls for Regulation Before US Congress, published October 5, 2021, accessed October 12, 2021. [3] Freedland J, Is Facebook the 21st Century Tobacco Industry?, Oxtero, published October 9, 2021, accessed October 12, 2021. [4] Simon-Rainaud M, Former Facebook executive compares social network's techniques to those of the tobacco industry, 01Net, published September 25, 2020, consulted October 12, 2021. National Committee Against Smoking |