The largest organization for the defense of the rights of Hispanics breaks with Facebook

By Nicole Acevedo -

NBC News

UnidosUS, the largest Latino defense and civil rights organization in the country, severed its ties with Facebook after a former employee of the tech giant leaked thousands of internal documents that allegedly show that

executives were aware of the negative impact their platforms have on certain users

.

Frances Haugen provided the information to The Wall Street Journal, which allowed the publication of a series of articles on the company's practices, and to the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce for Consumer Protection, to whom she testified on Tuesday.

A person demonstrates in front of the home of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, protesting the spread of disinformation through his platform, on November 21, 2020.Jeff Chiu / AP

On Sunday, October 3, he also appeared on the television program

60 Minutes

, in which he accused Facebook of treason against democracy.

Among the revelations made by Frances Haugen this week is how Facebook responded to research that proved that a 2018 algorithm change aimed at creating "meaningful social interactions" inadvertently amplified certain types of content and

ended up

setting political discourse on fire around the world

.

[Instagram is bad for teens and Facebook knows it]

The president and CEO of UnidosUS, Janet Murguía, considered the revelations

"the breaking point"

that forced the organization to cut all corporate ties with Facebook, "in an effort to better serve and protect the Latino communities we defend."

These algorithms also

contributed to the viral nature of misleading headlines and unscrupted sources

, according to a recent report from media and market research firm Nielsen published last week.

"

We have repeatedly drawn attention to

concerns about the negative impact that the proliferation of hate and misinformation on the platform has had on the Latino community. We now know that Facebook's inability to adequately address those concerns was deliberate and led to even higher levels of hatred and misinformation on the site, "Murguía said in a statement on Friday.

[Millionaire losses, chaos in offices and disconnected families: the lesson left by the fall of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram]

The Nielsen report on Latinos in the United States shows that this audience is

more likely to receive, consume, and share fake news and misinformation

online compared to the general population.

"Now we know the truth about the destructive impact of Facebook," says former employee of the company in the Senate

Oct. 5, 202101: 28

"

Disinformation poses a threat to Hispanics

, who are especially vulnerable due to increased dependence on social media and messaging platforms," ​​the report emphasizes.

"

Going

forward,

we will support regulatory and legislative efforts to provide public oversight

to ensure transparency and accountability of long-needed social media platforms, starting with Facebook," Murguía said.

Facebook spokeswoman Lena Pietsch responded to Haugen's disclosures by stating that the company works every day to "balance protecting the ability of billions of people to express themselves openly" with the need to keep the platform "a safe place. and positive ".

[

For Facebook "profits come before people": the keys to the testimony of the former employee to the Senate

]

"We continue to make significant improvements to address the spread of misinformation and harmful content. To suggest that we encourage bad content and do nothing is not true," Pietsch said.