Hey there --

Yesterday, a former Facebook employee, Frances Haugen, testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection on Facebook’s relentless pursuit of profits above all else—even if it means jeopardizing our kids’ safety and our democracy.

Frances Haugen’s testimony was credible and compelling. She presented Facebook’s own internal research to confirm what we’ve known for a long time: Facebook fuels dangerous societal harms across the world. 

Two moments from the hearing stood out to me:

1. When Frances illustrated the harms and dangers of Instagram as a platform that undermines the mental health and well-being of young people across the world. She described Instagram as a toxic relationship for teens:
   
2. When Senator Richard Blumenthal read a text message that he had just received from one of his constituents about how Instagram had forever changed his daughter’s mental health and well-being for the worse:

Facebook knows their products put kids at danger, but that doesn’t stop their executives from viewing teens as a valuable audience.

Our kids deserve so much better. That’s why we’re on the frontlines of holding Facebook accountable and urging Congress to launch a full investigation into their predatory business practices.

Facebook has the lobbyists, but we have the grassroots support. We’re going to continue calling out Facebook’s harms and advocating for structural reforms to our information ecosystem. Chip in now to help us expand our campaign budgets in the weeks ahead.

We appreciate all the support we can get to stand up to Big Tech. As a mother, I’m committed to doing everything I can to stop them from putting more kids in harm’s way.

Thanks for being with us,

Nicole
Co-founder & Executive Director
Accountable Tech