NL Interview: Facebook whistleblower on how the company favours those in power

<p>Last November, in an <a href="https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/11/30/nl-interview-sophie-zhang-on-what-it-took-to-become-a-facebook-whistleblower" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interview with <em>Newslaundry</em></a>, data scientist and former Facebook employee Sophie Zhang described the social media company’s reluctance to act against fake accounts in India.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Now, in this interview with Chitranshu Tewari, Sophie explains how she had <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/2020-delhi-elections-fb-whistleblower-offers-to-testify-before-parliamentary-panel-101637864072307.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">offered to testify</a> before India’s parliamentary standing committee on information, and why she shared documentation on her work on India with local journalists and media houses.</p><br><p>Sophie says Facebook chose not to take action on “inauthentic networks” linked to Vinod Sonkar, a BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh. “Facebook rules favour whoever is in power,” she says. “IT cells drown out the voice of the common man.”</p><br><p>Sophie also describes the inherent “conflict” in the role played by Facebook’s public policy teams.&nbsp;</p><br><p>Watch.</p><br><p><br></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>