In April 2021, Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist at Facebook, now Meta, blew the whistle on the platform and revealed how it failed to act on fake engagement. As part of her work on inauthentic networks within Facebook, she revealed how the platform chose not to take action on the suspicious behaviour to favour those in power.
Earlier this year, she released documents from her work at Facebook to show how the platform ignored fake engagements related to a BJP MP. She also offered to testify before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information and Technology to share her work on India.
This one-on-one conversation with Chitranshu Tewari will discuss Sophie’s work on fake accounts in India, the challenges of being a whistleblower and how platforms impact online speech.