Frances Haugen

In 2019, Frances Haugen was recruited to Facebook as lead product manager on the Civic Misinformation team. She was hired to deal with issues related to democracy and misinformation, and she later worked on counter-espionage with the social media giant.

During her time at Facebook, Frances became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company made to prioritise their own profit over public safety – ultimately risking individual users’ lives in the process. As a last resort, and at great personal cost, Frances made the courageous decision to expose the company for its unethical business practices. Initial reporting was released by The Wall Street Journal in what became known as The Facebook Files.  

Since going public, Frances has testified in front of US Congress, UK ad EU Parliaments, and the French Senate and National Assembly. She has engaged with lawmakers internationally on how to best address the negative externalities of social media platforms.

‍‍Watch Frances and Berry Liberman in conversation at the White House last year. ‍