Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is blasting Facebook after a whistleblower's release of a series of internal documents, alleging the company "knew" that its platform "promotes extremism and hurts our communities."
Klobuchar, who serves as chair of the Senate Judiciary's antitrust committee, called for lawmakers to take action after former Facebook employee Frances Haugen's recent disclosure of internal documents and her allegations that the company has put profits over safety.
"For too long, tech companies have said 'Trust us, we've got this.' Now the extent to which Facebook has put profits over people is becoming more and more clear," Klobuchar said, per The Hill. "There's a lot to discover in these papers about how the platform promotes extremism and hurts our communities, but here's what is clear: Facebook knew."
On Monday, numerous news outlets published reporting based on the internal Facebook documents, with CNN delving into the platform's struggle over several years to crack down on human trafficking; Apple reportedly once threatened to remove Facebook and Instagram from the App Store over this issue. The New York Times also reported on instances in which Facebook employees "sounded an alarm about misinformation and inflammatory content on the platform and urged action" before the company ultimately "failed or struggled to address the issues."
In testimony before Congress earlier this month, Haugen alleged Facebook has chosen to "grow at all costs" and is "buying its profits with our safety." Klobuchar on Monday argued the "the time has come for action from all sides to rein in big tech," calling for lawmakers to "hold these companies accountable when they spread disinformation and target vulnerable users with harmful content."