Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen hailed Monday in Brussels the "
enormous potential
" of the European project to regulate digital giants, believing that it could even serve as a "
benchmark
" in the United States.
Speaking to MEPs, she again accused her former employer of "
harming children, stoking divisions, weakening (the) democracies
" and "
putting profit before safety
" of users.
Read alsoFrances Haugen, the whistleblower who shakes Facebook
“
When business activities conflict with the interests of society as a whole, democracies must step in and make new laws.
I am delighted that the European Union is taking this very seriously
”, declared the former computer scientist of the American giant renamed Meta.
She felt that the
Digital Services Act (
DSA) currently under consideration by the European Parliament had “
enormous potential
” to become a “
benchmark
”.
"
It can inspire other countries, including mine,
" she continued, warning that "
the law must be strong and its application strong
."
"We must act now"
While self-regulation has so far been the norm, Frances Haugen considers that “
Facebook cannot continue to be judge, jury, prosecutor and witness
”. She advocated “
transparency
” on Facebook data and underlined the need to fight, beyond illegal content, against “
election manipulation, disinformation and harmful effects on adolescent mental health
”. It also considered that content disseminated by the media should not be excluded from the scope of the regulation.
The DSA wants to prohibit platforms from using algorithms to promote false information and dangerous speeches, with for the most important of them an obligation of means to moderate the content.
"
We must act now,
" urged the whistleblower, who has visited several European capitals and has already testified before American and British parliamentarians.
Read alsoEurope unveils its new rules of the game against tech giants
The American met the European Commissioner for the Internal Market during the day, Thierry Breton, who initiated the regulatory projects made up of the DSA and the
Digital Markets Act (
DMA), presented in December 2020. "
The increased lobbying efforts that we are witnessing are wasted effort: we will not allow business interests to interfere with the general interest of Europeans,
" the official warned, calling for the regulations to be adopted in the first half. 2022, during which time France will hold the rotating EU presidency.
A common position expected on November 25
The American giant disputes the claims of its former employee. He underlined the efforts made to fight against online hatred and disinformation, assuring that he would "
devote more than five billion this year to the safety
" of users and employ "
more than 40,000 people
"
for this task
. “
We have almost halved the amount of hate messages people see on Facebook over the past three quarters,
” said Monika Bickert, vice president of Meta.
Some elected officials, on the left and among the Greens, are also calling for a ban on targeted advertising, which is at the heart of the economic model of the tech giants, a provision however not provided for in the current state in the European regulatory project and dividing the MEPs. "
We have not yet found a common position on this subject (...) this is one of the most important discussions
", admitted Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose (Socialists and Democrats group), the rapporteur on the DSA.
MEPs leading the talks are betting on a compromise by early 2022. Slovenia, which holds the EU presidency until the end of 2021, is also working to get European governments to take a position common on these bills during a meeting on November 25.
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