Frances Haugen made headlines as the “Facebook Whistleblower” when she leaked tens of thousands of confidential documents in 2021. Teaming up with reporter Jeff Horwitz, Haugen secretly copied internal research indicating that Facebook, now Meta, repeatedly prioritized profit over user safety. The findings were published in The Wall Street Journal’ s investigative series called “ The Facebook Files .”

After revealing her true identity, the former Facebook employee testified before Congress, helping to change the conversation around Big Tech regulation and accountability. The now-famous leak is explored in the new movie The Social Reckoning , which follows Haugen and Horwitz in their pursuit of the truth.

Here’s what to know about Frances Haugen and the Facebook whistleblower scandal.

What Did Frances Haugen Do?

In 2019, data scientist Frances Haugen accepted a job as a product manager on Facebook’s Civic Integrity team in California.…