Facebook whistleblower launches nonprofit to make social media ‘healthier’

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is launching a nonprofit that aims to improve social media and make a healthier online environment, the new group announced Thursday. 

Haugen said her Beyond the Screen organization will focus on “tangible solutions to help users gain control” of their experience on social media. 

“We can have social media that brings out the best in us, and that’s what Beyond the Screen is working toward. We’re excited to collaborate with like-minded partners and organizations, like Project Liberty and Common Sense Media, that share our commitment to supporting healthier social media,” Haugen said in the announcement. 

The group’s first mission will be a “Duty of Care” project that will create an open-source database to document how tech giants are failing in legal and ethical obligations and outline potential solutions, according to the announcement. 

The launch comes roughly a year after Haugen released more than 20,000 pages of internal Facebook documents. The former Facebook executive testified before lawmakers in the U.S. and abroad about the documents and potential solutions to mitigate harms for kids and teens online, as well as issues surrounding disinformation and the spread of extremism. 

Facebook, now under the parent company name Meta, pushed back on the allegations leveled by Haugen in October. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company was being “mischaracterized” by Haugen’s testimony and comments.