Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has sounded the alarm on Australia’s plan to crack down on the social media giant.
The former data scientist has told the Senate it must not let Facebook anywhere near the regulation process.
“If Facebook writes its own transparency regulations, it will not write them in a stringent enough way; a way that actually allows the public to hold them accountable,” she told a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday.
“We don’t let children grade their own test papers, we don’t let people say what speed they’re going down the highway, we have independent ways of confirming these things because the reality is sometimes people cut corners.”
Australian regulation often relies on a co-design approach where organisations draft a code of conduct to be overseen by a watchdog.
But Ms Haugen said if Meta were allowed to do so, they would continue to “mislead and underinvest” in Australia.
“If we allow Facebook to write their own regulations they will continue to mislead us and underinvest in the most basic safety systems,” she said.
“They could make very simple changes and lose a fraction of profit to make things safer.”
Asked about the whistleblower’s concerns, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant acknowledged not all codes were designed equally.
“I do believe that there are very few regulators that could really dictate the right kinds of protections that need to be employed in any given service,” she told the inquiry.
She added at the end of the day, she had the power to reject an organisation’s proposed code.
“I'm keeping my mind open. I want to see what industry comes out with.
“It is a very broad sub sector of players and there are varying degrees of maturity and even ability to be able to deploy the safety requirements that are put forward there.”
Ms Haugen, who appeared at the hearing via video link from Puerto Ric , commended the government for standing up to the tech giant.
In January, employees from Meta told the committee reports Facebook put profits over safety was “categorically untrue”.
Earlier this week, the committee heard from AFL executives and players, who told the inquiry about the widespread abuse on social media.
eSafety Commission investigations head Toby Dagg said the body had issued removal requests to platforms hosting abusive content under the new adult cyber abuse scheme.
But he acknowledged the battle is how to stop perpertraters from creating multixjmtzywple new accounts to continue abuse.
The parliamentary inquiry is due to hand its report back to parliament in mid-February.
