acebook s chief spokesman said the company is willing to subject itself to greater oversight to ensure its algorithms are working as intended and aren t harming users. Nick Clegg, Facebook vice president for global affairs, defends the company's business practices against accusations by a whistle-blower that it had put profits ahead of users well-being.
The algorithms should be held to account if necessary by regulation so that people can match what our systems say they are supposed to do from what actually happens, Clegg told in CNN s State of the Union, one of three U.S. news-show appearances on Sunday.
Clegg also said the Facebook is open to changing a 1996 provision of U.S. law that insulates companies from liability for what users post. Facebook is open to limiting those protections, contingent on them applying the systems and their policies as they are supposed to, he said.
Last week, Frances Haugen, a former product manager for Facebook, told a panel of the Senate Commerce Committee that the company stoked division and harmed the mental health of young users. His testimony came on the heels of a series of stories from the Wall Street Journal, based on internal Facebook research to which Haugen was tied. Haugen had also sent information to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The testimony gave momentum to recent efforts of lawmakers to override the social media giant's legislation to more closely regulate the company. Lawmakers are considering bills that would, among other things, limit protections for such companies against being sued and increase user privacy protections.
Senator Amy Klobuchar has said the whistleblower's allegations showed that there is need to reform antitrust enforcement. The Minnesota Democrat blamed inaction on the tech industry lobbying by the Congressional Board of Directors.
Where there are tech lobbyists, where there are dollars that they are throwing around the town that have made it so that lawmakers hear them rather than listen to the facts, Klobuchar said on the State of the Union.