Frances Haugen, 37, came forward on America's top-rated news show 60 Minutes Sunday night, with the data scientist further blaming her former employer for contributing to the January 6 riots. She announced: "Facebook, over and over again, has shown it chooses profit over safety."
Haugen insisted that Facebook turned off "safeguards" designed to stop the proliferation of misinformation and rabble-rousing after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the November 2020 presidential election.
That saw political content given a lower priority on users' news feeds in the run-up to the poll - solely for executives to reverse course on understanding the change was turning users off. She claimed that the decision directly contributed to the violence at the US Capitol.
WATCH: SPEAKER JOHNSON CALLS ON COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT TO RESIGN
"As soon as the election was over they turned them back off, or they changed the settings back to what they were before to prioritize growth over safety. And that really feels like a betrayal of democracy to me," Haugen announced.
Haugen, whose leaks formed The Wall Street Journal's 'Facebook Files' series, further announced that Facebook's algorithms - mathematical formulae that help choose which information is most visible on users' feeds - favored hateful content.
WATCH GREAT ANALYSIS: THE ABSURDITY OF ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS
She insisted that a 2018 change prioritizing divisive posts which made Facebook users argue was determined to raise user engagement.
A CRYING SHAME: PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTS FORCE USC TO CANCEL PRIMARY GRADUATION EVENT
That in turn helped bosses sell more online adverts that have seen the social media giant's value creep close to $1 billion.
Haugen announced: "You are forcing us to take positions that we don't like, that we know are bad for society. We know if we don't take those positions, we won't win in the marketplace of social media," she stated.
AMERICA'S BIRTHRATE CONTINUES TO PLUMMET - ARE MILLENNIALS TRADING DIAPERS FOR DEGREES?
The executive, who worked at Google and Pinterest before joining Facebook in 2019, announced the scales fell from her eyes after the company dissolved a unit on civic integrity she'd been working in after the 2020 election.
She explained: "I don’t trust that they’re willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous."
REPUBLICAN SENATORS EXPOSE DARK SIDE OF 'FOOD DELIVERY' ECONOMICS
"The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world," Haugen continued.
"There were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook. And Facebook, over and over again, chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money."
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
