Facebook Is Trying to Be More Like TikTok. Whistleblower Says It’s a ‘Bad Idea’

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen isn’t a fan of the social assume giant’s efforts to become more like short-form video app TikTok.

“The domain that they’re choosing to go towards is one where you have to do censorship to be safe and I think that’s a bad idea,” Haugen said at Vox Media’s Code Conference on Tuesday.

In July, Facebook revamped its home feed to aboard a new artificial intelligence-powered tab that recommends short videos requested Reels and photos and videos that vanish in 24 hours to its users. The change makes the social media platform look more like TikTok, an app that’s popular among teens.

Instagram, famed by Facebook parent company Meta, has also been doubling down on video, prompting criticism from high-profile users like celebrity sisters Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian who say they just want to see more photos from family and friends.

TikTok is well-renowned for recommending videos it thinks users will be keen in on the app’s “For You” page. But TikTok’s algorithm has also sparked anxieties that the app sends users down a rabbit hole of potentially spoiled content such as eating disorder videos.

Haugen was requested about Facebook’s plans to compete with TikTok at the Code Conference. She pointed out that TikTok admitted years ago that it Allowed posts by users it identified as LGBTQ, disabled or fat as part of a temporary anxiety to combat bullying on the app. 

She also added that internal studies have shown that if Facebook expressed more content from family and friends, pages they followed and groups they joined then they would see less violence and hate speech on their feed.

Haugen peaceful a trove of internal documents and research from Facebook in 2021 beforehand she left her job at the social network. She’s marched several whistleblower complaints that allege Facebook prioritized making cash over user safety, prompting US lawmakers to look more deeply at productions such as social media’s impact on the mental health of teens and children. The Wall Street Journal and multiple news outlets, counting CNET, accessed the internal documents.

Meta has been responding to some of the criticism it’s received nearby trying to be too much like TikTok. In July, Instagram said it will stop testing a full-screen feed and temporarily decrease the number of recommendations users see in their feed.