Ex-Facebook employee Frances Haugen's congressional testimony cast a spotlight on a rising threat for an industry that has become one of society’s most powerful forces: The era of the Big Tech whistleblower has arrived.
Even after making inroads, women and especially women of color remain outsiders in the heavily male tech sector, said Ellen Pao, an executive who sued Silicon Valley investment firm Kleiner Perkins in 2012 for gender discrimination.
Still, there is a difference between stewing about your company’s failings and revealing them to the world. There is a price to be paid, and Haugen certainly knew that.“It absolutely is terrifying, terrifying to get to the point of doing what she did. And you know that the moment you start your testimony, your life is going to change,” said Wendell Potter, a former health insurance executive who blew the whistle on his own industry’s practices.
Many had declined offers from top universities, attracted by Olin’s offer of a free education to the first arrivals, and the chance to join in creating something new, said Lynn Andrea Stein, a computer science professor. “Smartphones were just becoming a thing. We talked a lot of about ethical use of data and building things the wrong way,” said Jonathan Sheffi, who graduated with Haugen in 2011. “She was always super-interested in the intersection of people’s well-being and technology.”
In June 2019, she joined a Facebook team that focused on network activity surrounding international elections. But she has said she grew frustrated as she became more aware of widespread misinformation online that stoked violence and abuse and that Facebook would not adequately address.