Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen Signs With CAA

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Frances Haugen, who last year revealed herself as the Facebook whistleblower and testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, has signed with CAA.

The agency closed Haugen’s deal with Little, Brown and Co. for North American rights to publish her book. Deals also are in place for four foreign territories. CAA also is working with Haugen in other areas, including personal appearances and nonfiction film and television content.

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. - Credit: Frances Haugen
. - Credit: Frances Haugen

Frances Haugen

Haugen has urged greater government oversight of social media giants. She was lead product manager of Facebook’s civic integrity team, which oversaw issues related to disinformation, and she later was on the platform’s counter-espionage team. The Wall Street Journal published an investigative series based on documents supplied by Haugen.

Among other things, the series showed that Facebook had research on the addictive nature of its platform and the impact that Instagram had on teen girls and negative body images. She testified that the company “chose profits over safety” and that it failed to do more to rein in misinformation and incendiary content. Just before the hearing, Haugen revealed herself as the whistleblower, tied to an appearance on 60 Minutes. A consortium of news organizations published The Facebook Papers, producing more than 100 stories on an array of topics using the Facebook documents and Haugen’s disclosures as a source.

After her testimony, Facebook issued a statement in which it said, “We don’t agree with her characterization of the many issues she testified about.”

Haugen has also worked at Google Pinterest, Yelp and Facebook and is a specialist in algorithmic product management. She has a degree in electrical and computer engineering from Olin College and an MA from Harvard.

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