Anti-Facebook protest before whistleblower's Parliament hearing

SumOfUs say their research has found 45 million posts related to eating disorders on Instagram, despite such posts being flagged up to the company as dangerous, and call on Members of Parliament to force Facebook to make its platforms more transparent.

Former Facebook data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen is expected to answer questions Monday from lawmakers in the United Kingdom who are working on legislation to rein in the power of social media companies.

According to the Associated Press, Haugen is set to appear before a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the British government’s draft legislation to crack down on harmful online content, and her comments could help lawmakers beef up the new rules. She’s testifying the same day Facebook is expected to release its latest earnings.

It will be her second appearance before lawmakers after she testified in the US Senate earlier this month about the danger she says the company poses, from harming children to inciting political violence and fueling misinformation. Haugen cited internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebook’s civic integrity unit.

She told U.S. lawmakers that she thinks a federal regulator is needed to oversee digital giants like Facebook, something that officials in Britain and the European Union are already working on.

The U.K. government’s online safety bill calls for setting up a regulator that would hold companies to account when it comes to removing harmful or illegal content from their platforms, such as terrorist material or child sex abuse images.

Haugen also is scheduled to meet next month with European Union officials in Brussels, where the bloc's executive commission is updating its digital rulebook to better protect internet users by holding online companies more responsible for illegal or dangerous content.