It is eagerly awaited in France. The “European tour” of the whistleblower and former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, will pass through the Palais Bourbon. The computer scientist, who leaked studies showing that Facebook is aware of the harmfulness of its platform, will be heard on Wednesday, November 10 by the deputies of the Laws and Economic Affairs committees.
Frances Haugen has already testified before US and UK lawmakers, as well as this week at the Web Summit, a conference for entrepreneurs and tech investors.
“We must be vigilant and listen to whistleblowers”
It will be questioned in the National Assembly by the deputies of the Economic Affairs Committee – on which digital issues depend – but also by those of the Laws Committee, who will look in the wake of a bill devoted to protection of whistleblowers. This is carried by the deputies of the three majority groups, LREM, Modem and Agir.
“We must be vigilant and listen to whistleblowers. Their mission is to challenge us, that of the deputies is to understand the light that they bring to push to take decisions which could be necessary ”, commented the president of the Committee of Economic Affairs, Roland Lescure.
For more than a month, the “Facebook Papers”, thousands of internal documents submitted to the American Stock Exchange Authority (SEC) by Frances Haugen, show how the Californian group was aware of the potential for nuisance of its social networks – toxic content on Instagram for adolescents, disinformation that harms democracy… – but has chosen, in part, to ignore them, for the sake of preserving its profits.