Whistleblower: Facebook chose profit over public safety

By DAVID BAUDER and MICHAEL LIEDTKE
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook prematurely turned off safeguards designed to thwart misinformation and rabble rousing after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in last year’s elections in a moneymaking move that a company whistleblower alleges contributed to the deadly Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol. The whistleblower, former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen, also asserted during an exclusive interview that aired Sunday on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that a 2018 change to Facebook’s news feeds contributed to more divisiveness and ill will in a network ostensibly created to bring people closer together. Facebook contends Haugen’s allegations are misleading and insists that there is no evidence to support the premise that it’s the primary cause of social polarization.