Business Law News: Student Response

I want you to submit at least 2 responses to articles posted by others. Your comments/reflections must relate to class material and your opinion on the posted Business Law News. Do not criticize their choices, but advance the conversation forward by adding your thoughts on similar or different options. Your posts have a long "length requirement". A follow-up reply of just "cool" or "wow", or any version of that isn't enough for credit. They need to be thoughtful & respectful responses. I need to know that you actually read your classmate's analysis and learned something new.

"Student: Miles Murray

Article: Facebook whistleblower says, Frances Haugen, says she wants to save the company, not harm it. By Jeff Horwitz

URL:https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-whistleblower-frances-haugen-says-she-wants-to-fix-the-company-not-harm-it-11633304122

Analysis:

"In response to today's Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp 7 billion dollar crash, I chose to discuss an article written by Jeff Horiwitz for the Wall Street Journal in regards to the Facebook whistleblower.

Frances Haugen was hired at Facebook in 2019 as a product manager. Her main job focus was election tampering. In her short 2 years with the social media giant, she became very aware, and disgusted at the lack of acknowledgement and accountability the company had for its own market research on the harm its done to mental health, and political upset in the past years.

Once she became aware of the passive attitude towards what she felt was a huge issue in the company's obligation to users, she contacted the Exchange and Security Commission to seek whistleblower protection.

After she put in her resignation in April, Frances spent her last month gathering information to help build her case and prove to local law makers and investors that the social media giant was in fact, not being as transparent as they claimed.

Haugen uncovered that what was being claimed by the social media website was basically false. The platform regularly favored elites. As well as the fact that the algorithms were designed to a discord. Even more surprising would be the amount of human trafficking she found that was easily flying under the radar. Even going as far to say the company blatantly ignored market research suggesting the harmful effects on the mental health of young women. Haugen acknowledged that a lot of her colleagues would feel betrayed, but her intent was to help the company, not harm it.

In a response to the claims made by Haugen, a Facebook spokesperson, Andy Stone said "Every day our teams have to balance protecting the right of billions of people to express themselves openly with the need to keep our platform a safe and positive place....To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true."

The rise of social media was a wave that grew faster than society could keep up. Now we are almost dependent on it as individuals, communities, and businesses. So many of us hardly realize how much of an impact it's had on our lives because it's become so ingrained. I believe it's Facebook's obligation to be as transparent to the public as possible. We have seen so many ideologies birthed from social media articles, forums, and posts. Situations like the insurrection, have been fueled by online communities spreading false rhetoric. There is a social responsibility that should be held by all social media platforms that the well being of its users comes before engagement.

With the advancement in AI and the development of algorithms, transparency should be a first priority for major tech. Most people do not understand the way these websites work. And it seems like Facebook is just making it more and more difficult to understand exactly what they are doing by burying very simple shortcomings with complicated verbiage and a complete denial of social responsibility."

Need Help With My Reply:

Hi Miles Murray,

-I just finished reading your summary of the article, "Facebook whistleblower says, Frances Haugen, says she wants to save the company, not harm it" by Jeff Horwitz, and I think it was_.

-A part that stood out to me was when you explained, " "

-I noticed you explained/said/mentioned, " " and I agree with your idea because......

-To add to your work _

-I was unaware that _. I was under the impression that_.

-Besides,

-In other words,

-Anyways, I think you did a great job on this assignment. Have a good day!!

Your Classmate, Sky