Whistleblowers & how to activate a new era of digital accountability
Frances Haugen famously blew the whistle against her then-employer, Facebook. She says we must recognize that the gap between fast-changing tech and slow-moving governments will continue to widen, and the best way to narrow it, is to encourage people to speak out against questionable practices. These whistleblowers need better laws to protect them, she tells Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview.
Despite all of this, Haugen still has hope that the corporate culture inside tech companies can change for the better. The role of social media companies in politics is still growing, and now the failures of social media companies can have life-or-death consequences.
Haugen suggests that governments need to rethink how they regulate social media companies, and hold them more accountable for the consequences of their actions.
The EU just approved the Digital Services Act, which for the first time will mandate social media companies be more transparent about what they do with personal data.
If if it works in Europe, the DSA could inspire similar laws in other parts of the world too. Haugen also discusses the preponderance of "bot" accounts on social media, and says companies often choose to ignore the large numbers of fake followers.