16 Time November 8/November 15, 2021
NEWS
TICKER
undid fragile
progress made after
massive protestsattached
a kidney grown in a
genetically altered
pig to a brain-dead
human patientJair Bolsonaro be
criminally charged for
his handling of COVID-
19,HIGHER POWER Villagers on the island of La Palma in the Canaries carry a statue of their patron
saint, the Virgen del Pino, on Oct. 19, praying for an end to a now monthlong eruption. The Canary
Islands Volcanology Institute confirmed on Oct. 25 that portions of the Cumbre Vieja’s volcanic cone
have collapsed, spewing out new lava flows that threaten more of La Palma’s banana crop and will
likely force thousands more to evacuate. —Paulina CacheroA more compleTe porTrAiT of how
Facebook has been vividly aware of its
harmful effects came to light on Oct. 25,
via a series of reports on internal Facebook
documents leaked to the media by whistle-
blower Frances Haugen. On the same day,
Haugen testified in front of British lawmak-
ers shaping new Big Tech legislation. “Mark
Zuckerberg has unilateral control over
3 billion people,” Haugen said. “There’s no
will at the top to make sure these systems
are run in an adequately safe way.”“FACEBOOK PAPERS” Damning details
from the leaked documents have revealed
Facebook’s problems with hate speech and
disinformation are dramatically worse in
the developing world—the social network
has long underinvested in building safety
systems for languages spoken outside of
North America and Europe. (On Oct. 25,
Zuckerberg called the coverage based on
Haugen’s leaks “a coordinated effort to se-
lectively use leaked documents to paint a
false picture of our company.”)REGULATORY PLANS Haugen has embarked
on an extensive tour of Europe, where
lawmakers have been far more aggressive
than the U.S. in regulating Big Tech. Euro-
pean Union rules on data protection forced
changes in 2018 that also protected Ameri-
can users, and coming regulations would
compel platforms to regulate content. Hau-
gen said she hoped her testimony could
shape that incoming regulation to better re-
flect how social platforms actually work on
the inside.BOTTOM LINES Wall Street, it seems, still
believes Facebook can weather the storm.
The company’s stock price has slipped in
recent weeks but is still historically high.
In its third- quarter earnings call, Facebook
announced that its profits are projected
to rise 39% year over year in 2021. But al-
though investors have proved unwilling to
force Facebook to change course, Haugen’s
documents—and now testimony—may yet
force a different kind of reckoning.
—BillY perriGo and NiK popliBULLETIN
Facebook’s dramatic fall
from grace continuesTheBrief