The Facebook whistle blower and the grieving parent

Available for over a year

Frances Haugen made headlines around the world when she became a whistle blower. She disclosed thousands of internal documents from Facebook where she used to work. She told Congress the company’s apps “harm children, stoke division and weaken democracy”. Mark Zuckerburg said he didn’t recognise the “false picture” she painted. But her decision to come forward and give us a glimpse inside the tech giant matters to a lot of people. Four years ago Ian Russell's daughter Molly took her own life. When he looked at her Instagram account he found it was full of dark content about suicide and depression, fed to her by the app’s algorithm. In this episode of 5 Minutes On, Ian Russell meets Frances Haugen.