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FACEBOOK WHISTLEBLOWER FRANCES Haugen has told an Oireachtas committee that the metaverse could do even more harm than traditional social media unless proper regulation is put in place.
The metaverse is an internet centred in virtual reality, 3D environments that Facebook has heavily backed as its future. Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as a reflection of this shift.
Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Haugen last year made a number of blistering claims about the social network, among them that the company did not act on internal research about the harm caused by its products.
For example, she claimed that the firm’s own research found that Facebook-owned Instagram is more dangerous than other social media such as TikTok and Snapchat, because the platform is focused on “social comparison” about bodies and lifestyles.
Speaking to TDs and Senators at the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media today, Haugen said the metaverse could present a new challenge for regulators because they will not be able to see the harm it causes.
She said even more “immersive” technologies like the metaverse would make it even more difficult to identify harm.
“The metaverse is new and if we were sitting down and writing a protection plan today, we actually know very little about it,” she said.
I’m just going to lay out what could happen in the future if we don’t implement some recurrent system of mandatory risk assessments. We’re gonna see the exact same same thing happen in the metaverse, or maybe even worse, than we’ve seen already on places like Instagram.
“People had been complaining about many of the issues in my disclosures for years, sometimes a decade. The only thing that changed was I brought forward proof that Facebook knew about these harms, because they were real. What we’re gonna see with the metaverse is people are going to start having individual problems,” she said.
People like pediatricians are going to start seeing things like kids getting more addicted to these immersive systems than they already are, like Instagram. But we’re not going to be able to prove it, because we’re all going to only see our individual experiences of things like the metaverse, we’re not going to see the systematic impact.
A number of politicians also raised concerns about the metaverse with Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne asking how politicians can legislate for it, with Sinn Fein’s Fintan Warfield saying that politicians were “still talking about 2D flat screens”.
Haugen agreed and said that Facebook was trying to “shift the conversation” to the metaverse.
Content
In her opening statement to the committee, Haugen said that Ireland’s planned Online Safety Bill should include forced transparency as self-regulation of the social media giant does not work.
“There is a major, major, major national security problem with Facebook with regard to lack of transparency,” Haugen said.
She added that the government should order an independent review of the Data Protection Commission.
“As you create an independent, robust and effective online safety regulator, you must launch an independent review into the DPC so that it too can start to enforce the law thoroughly and boldly,” she said, adding that Ireland holds a “unique responsibility” because it is the place of establishment for these companies.
Again referencing the Online Safety Bill, Haugen said it must “focus less on content and more on how content is shared and spread”.
“You cannot simply rely on the deletion or criminalisation of harmful content. Not only because that risks infringing on free speech, but because it doesn’t work,” she said.
Regulatory regimes which have focused solely on deleting content have failed. There’s just too much out there.
Under questioning from Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells, Haugen acknowledged that Ireland’s regulator simply cannot hire the requisite expertise in online algorithms that Facebook has access to.
Algorithms are automated technologies that are used by social media companies to tailor content for individual users.
Haugen said that the Online Safety Commission would need at least 20 algorithm experts to tackle the tech giant, but that there perhaps “200 or 300″ such experts in the world.
“The idea that Ireland is going to be able to go out on the world stage and pay market competitive strategies on specialists like this, it’s an undue burden on the Irish people,” she said.
Asked what one such expert could be paid, Haugen said their total compensation including salary and equity could be “in the order of half a million dollars to three-quarters of a million dollars.”
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Unbelievable how popular it has become to advocate for censorship in the name of ‘the greater good’. Platforms have absolutely zero responsibility to police any kind of content whatsoever beyond that which is illegal, and nor should they. And the only content which should be illegal is that which directly violates somebody’s rights, of which being baby-proofed and protected from seeing or hearing upsetting things is not one.
Meta bull.
I remember having both a bebo and myspace page, i feel like a fossil.
Sour grapes from former employee, making a career now abouting hating facebook
@mark o donovan: Exactly!
The so called metaverse is years away with current tech. I’ll probably never happen. I’ve seen online trends come and go like we all have. Will current kids even use it in a few years? Might just stick to their own and have online friends for gaming purposes and leave it at that.
They’re growing up with this so will have a completely different attitude.
No point in asking someone in their 40′s how it will go…
@mark o donovan: sounds like a comment from someone who hasn’t a breeze what happened but still had a stoopid opinion on it.
In a group setting of young adults around their concerns about different social media, it was asked what they thought and what effects they have experienced, bullying, coercive behaviours, unrealistic physical and wealth related comparisons, drug use and selling in closed group chats, these are the tip of the ice berg of what came out (group was 17-23) about WhatsApp and others. Meta, Facebooks new one to one platform is clearly trying to get ahead of the slow regulations change the EU for so long has promised is coming. Meta will be a one to one platform where the provider will have unfettered access and it is not even known who will police this? The possible harm this VR based multiverse may do is unmeasurable, it will have the usual unregulated access to personal data while openly influencing and possibly coercing you to buy, choose and believe the choices they peddle are the only ones worth It’s a dangerous concept we are told, I’d be of the belief much like my pears this is way past the development stage and the only delay is based on current legal requirements and reg’s, with that said facebooks reputation around hate, sex, coercive behavior, religious extremism etc only pointed us in one direction; the damage will not be obvious at first and when it is obvious it will be to late for a lot of people. Yes it is fair to say that property used it would have loads of benefits like so many technologies but Facebook and Zuckerbergs reputation only raises more concerns than wonderment. The OLD adage that it does more good than harm cannot and should not be used in this context and so the EU and governments world wide need to get their act together to protect young and old alike from the damage big companies unregulated can a will do given the chance. Young people on a scale of times past are more educated now around such things and a holistically balanced approach needs to be put in place asap. Regulation and education.
@Epgenetics29 Declan Christoph: Great to see that you finally got your degree at the youtube university. Hope your tin foil hat was sitting tight enough during the recent storms.
What a load of horse manure. And Fair play to the whistle blower.
Much better platforms out there now like Gettr and Bitchute if you want freedom of speech and no censorship, the new Trump app Truth Social looks great too. Best way to see past all this madness and nonsense.
@Philip Dwyer: Hmmm, brand new Facebook page purporting to belong to a vocal member of the National Party.
Anyone else think this is just a Poe account?
@Philip Dwyer: Jesus wept – if we are seriously at the level that people are suggesting you need to go to Donald Trumps new social network as the best way to see past nonsense – then we are are well and truly fuukt tbh
I feel old.
Metaverse won’t take off at all. Zuckerberg is an alien, he doesn’t know what people want. It’ll be great watching him pump money into gettin this to take off and then no one using it. That will happen. He’ll start forcing it into businesses and people will resent it even more. People like to be online but not totally disconnected from everything real.
have your say