David Molloy
Technology reporter

Here's another key moment from just before the break.

When asked if Facebook has ever implemented a feature that would harm users, but gone ahead with it, Haugen pointed to an example of allowing people to share links without reading them.

And she said there were records of Mark Zuckerberg having made such decisions himself.

"We have a few choice documents that contain notes from briefings with Mark Zuckerberg where he chose metrics defined by Facebook like ‘meaningful social interactions’ over changes that would have significantly decreased misinformation, hate speech and other inciting content," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

It's now time for a brief recess in the Senate after a morning of testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Just joining us? Here's what you've missed.

Profits over people

If there is an overall theme so far - this is it.

According to Haugen, Facebook routinely resolves conflicts between its bottom line and the safety of its users in favour of its profits.

"The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people," she says.

The buck stops with Zuck

Throughout her remarks, Haugen has made clear that Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has wide-ranging oversight of his company and maintains ultimate control of all key decisions.

"The buck stops with Mark," she says. "There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself."

Teen girls targeted

Senators have devoted much of their time to the harm posed by Facebook and Instagram to young people, especially teenage girls.

Several have pointed to research that suggests both sites worsen teens' body image and promote eating disorders.

Lawmakers cited Facebook's own data, published by the Wall Street Journal last month, which found that 32% of teen girls said that when they feel bad about their bodies, Instagram makes them feel worse.

Facebook fires back

Andy Stone, Facebook's policy communications director, is pushing back live on Twitter.

He wrote that Haugen is asked about topics she did not work directly on, including child safety and Instagram.

But, as others online note, she has come armed with Facebook's own documents to back up her testimony.

Big Tech executives have been routinely grilled about their platforms by Congress in recent years.

Last year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was among the industry heads cross-examined about a number of topics ranging from censorship to undue influence and regulation.

Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was asked if there is evidence of their platforms being addictive.

Here's what they said:

Image source, Getty Images

We've been hearing a lot today on the impact social media has on children and teenagers. So how old do you have to be to use Facebook?

Facebook and Instagram require people to be at least 13 years old to sign up - and when you open an account, you must provide a birthday.

In some countries, the minimum age is higher.

(You can imagine that some children may try to get around this.)

Facebook has said it restricts people who repeatedly try to enter different birthdays into the age screen, and that it's "developing AI to find and remove underaged accounts, and new solutions to verify people’s ages".

And plans to make an "Instagram experience" for under-13s, dubbed Instagram Kids, were recently put on ice after leaked internal research in the 'Facebook Files' suggested Instagram was "toxic to teen girls".

David Molloy
Technology reporter

Andy Stone, Facebook’s policy communications director - a big role at the company - is watching the testimony.

He is keen to stress that Haugen is being asked about things she did not directly work on at Facebook, and "has no direct knowledge" of.

To be fair to Haugen, she has told senators that she did not work in some of the areas she’s being asked about, saying only that she’s "pretty sure" that teenagers are among Facebook’s most profitable users.

And as New York Times reporter Ryan Mac highlighted on Twitter, external, Haugen is being taken seriously because she copied internal Facebook documents before leaving the firm, some of which we’ve already seen.

Her own knowledge of the field may be less important than documents she has at hand.

Image source, Getty Images

Five roommates in a college dorm room in 2004 ended up founding the site that would change the face, if you will, of the internet.

Harvard University students Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Andrew McCollum.

Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up.

Now, Facebook boasts an estimated two billion daily users and employs more than 63,000 people.

Zuckerberg, 37, has remained at the helm. He owns a 14% stake in Facebook, helping fuel his net wealth of $117bn (£85bn) - though he dropped $6bn yesterday as stocks plummeted with the outage.

Under Zuckerberg's leadership, Facebook acquired Instagram and the messaging app WhatsApp - further expanding the social media giant’s global reach.

Chelsea Bailey
Digital producer, BBC News

We all do it: mindlessly reaching for our phones to like, scroll, comment and post.

But if you’re having trouble breaking that habit, new research shows it’s just as possible to become addicted to the dopamine rush from social media apps, as it is to any other drug.

Dr Anna Lembke, a psychiatrist, Stanford researcher and author of the new book, Dopamine Nation, told BBC News that for some, social media has become the "drug of choice".

"Social media apps have essentially been engineered to be highly rewarding and to keep us engaged," she said.

"They release so much dopamine in the reward pathway, that they essentially become the equivalent of an addictive drug."

And just like with any other addiction, breaking free can be difficult.

If you’re questioning your online habits, Dr Lembke suggests being mindful of the three C’s: compulsion, control and consequences.

Compulsion means you’re picking up the phone without thinking. Control implies you’re using it more than you plan to, and consequences occur when the apps begin interfering in your daily life.

Whistleblower Haugen describes a chronic staffing issue at Facebook, saying the company struggles to hire, which then leads to "scandals" - which then makes it even harder to recruit.

She describes a "pattern of behaviour" at the company where, due to understaffing, "there was a kind of implicit discouragement from having better detection systems".

For example - while on the company's counter-espionage team, Haugen said her team could only respond to 30% of cases "that we knew about".

Image source, Getty Images

We've just heard from Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar (of 2020 presidential election fame).

She's the latest to bring up how apps like Instagram have been found to harm teenagers' mental health. She points out that Facebook's own research found 13% of teen girls reported worsening thoughts of suicide after using Instagram.

There's a growing body of studies to support this notion of social media as a mental health stressor.

A systematic review of 20 papers published in 2016 found that photo-based activities, like scrolling through Instagram or posting pictures of yourself, were a particular problem when it came to negative body image thoughts.

In a 2015 survey of 227 female university students, women reported that they tend to compare their own appearance negatively with their peer group and with celebrities, external, while browsing Facebook.

In 2019, researchers found that exposing women to 'body positive' Instagram content appeared to boost their satisfaction with their own bodies, external.

And earlier this year, a study in the UK found that almost half of men it surveyed said poor body image has affected their mental health.

Frances Haugen describes what she calls CEO Mark Zuckerberg's "unique" role in the tech industry, noting that he holds over 55% of the voting share of Facebook.

"In the end, the buck stops with Mark. There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself," she says.

David Molloy
Technology reporter

As the hearing started, Haugen looked around the room, showing what might have been nerves.

But that quickly evaporated as she was thanked by Senator Blumenthal for “standing up” to one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

She smiled as he said she was “not alone”, but came with documents to prove what she had to say.

She added to her prepared opening remarks to highlight the positive side of Facebook - saying that during Monday’s outage, that “millions of small businesses weren’t able to reach potential customers, and countless photos of new babies weren’t joyously celebrated”.

But the thrust of her argument hasn’t changed at all.

The six-hour gap in Facebook services also meant that the tech giant’s products "wasn't used to deepen divides, destabilise democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies".

Image source, Getty Images

Working at Facebook, Haugen says, "I saw that Facebook repeatedly encountered conflicts between its own profits and our safety."

Next comes the key point: "Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favour of its own profits."

The answer, she says, is Congressional oversight.

"Left alone, Facebook will continue to make choices against the common good," she says.

Facebook can change, she emphasises, but it will not do so on its own.

"I believe we still have time to act," she says. "But we must act now."

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Opening statements from both Republican and Democrat Senators show the problem Facebook has. Trying to find cross-party support for anything at the moment is tough. But Facebook has managed it.

Both parties believe - particularly on Instagram - that the platform damages teenage mental health.

There is broad support in Washington that something needs to be done.

Haugen outlines her background in tech - and they're names you'll recognise.

Before her stint at Facebook, she worked with Google, Pinterest, and Yelp.

At Facebook, she worked as the lead product manager for Facebook's Civic Misinformation team and later on counter-espionage.

"I have been able to compare and contrast how each company approaches and deals with different challenges," she says.

But Facebook's choices are "a huge problem".

"And let’s be clear: it doesn’t have to be this way. We are here today because of deliberate choices Facebook has made," she says.

Image source, Getty Images

Beginning her opening statement, Frances Haugen says she joined Facebook because of its potential to "bring out the best in us".

"But I am here today because I believe that Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy and much more," she says.

Then comes her key assertion: Facebook's leaders know how to make their products safer but they "won't".

"They have put their immense profits before people," she says.

David Molloy
Technology reporter

Facebook has been fiercely defending itself against the allegations published in recent weeks.

Its director of policy communications, Lena Pietsch, said the most recent allegations aired on CBS 60 Minutes programme “used select company materials to tell a misleading story about the research we do”.

She said Facebook has invested billions in safety measures, employing tens of thousands of people in tackling it.

“If any research had identified an exact solution to these complex challenges, the tech industry, governments, and society would have solved them a long time ago,” she argued.

And the company is ready to “answer any questions regulators may have about our work”.

She was also keen to highlight that Facebook has already said it is keen to see a reform of industry regulation.

But the company wants it applied to all tech firms as an industry standard - not targeted solely at the world’s largest social network.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal continues his critical opening statement, declaring Facebook as "morally bankrupt".

He addresses Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg:

"Mark Zuckerberg, you need to come before this committee. You need to explain to Francis Haugen, to us, to the world, and to the parents of America, what you were doing and why you did it."

At points during Blumenthal's remarks, whistleblower Frances Haugen nods in agreement.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, chair of the consumer protection subcommittee, begins today's hearing.

He thanks whistleblower Frances Haugen for her "courage" in coming forward against Facebook.

"You did not come alone, you come armed with documents," he says. "Facebook and Big Tech are facing a Big Tobacco moment, a moment of reckoning."

Image source, Getty Images

Spoiler alert - we already know what Haugen is going to start with: that Facebook is "one of the most urgent threats to the American people".

A written version of her opening statement, sent to news outlets in advance, says that Facebook’s products "harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy and much more".

She will say that when there was a clash between user safety and making money, "Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favor of its own profits".

Haugen will also argue that no one outside of the company knows what's happening "under the hood". And that, she says, makes regulation and oversight incredibly hard.

She'll also use her opener to hearken back to other instances in US history where the government stepped in to prevent harm.

"When we realised tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seat belts, the government took action."

And there's one more line that stands out.

"I know Facebook has infinite resources, which it could use to destroy me.”

Haugen says she came forward despite any risk because now is the time to take action. Senators will quiz her about that for hours to come.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has arrived at the Senate, where she will testify that her former employer was aware of the harm it causes to young people, but did nothing to mitigate concerns.

Image source, Getty Images