Facebook Files Explained (rc3-2021)

Hatespeech, teens in danger and wrong claims about growth rates – Facebook is under pressure sinces whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked more then 1.200 internal documents to the US congress. Many stories have been written, but many things are missing and often the original documents were not shown. This talk tries to change that and offers an exclusive insight into the files and the research. When we met Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen the first time, she was not known to the world and introduced herself as “Shawn”. The name of a longtime friend, who felt for conspiracy theories years ago and the reason why she joined facebook for the first time. Over weeks, as part of the NDR/WDR/SZ research team, we evaluated the facebook files. What did facebook internally know about hatespeech, bodyimage of teens and growth rates? This talk will offers exclusive insights into the files and the research. It will show, that facebook is at odds internally and that many people warned and knew about the wrong development towards polarization over years. We will dive into internal facebook studies and provide them with context. We will also show you, which stories the files don’t tell and where context is (still) missing. about this event: https://pretalx.c3voc.de/rc3-2021-cbase/talk/3UFKRN/