By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
A Facebook executive is pushing back on a whistleblower's claims — supported by the company's own internal research — that the social network's products harm children and fuel polarization in the U.S.
Monika Bickert, Facebook's head of global policy management, told The Associated Press Wednesday that "we do not and we have not prioritized engagement over safety." Bickert said the reason Facebook researches teen well-being on Instagram is so that the company can build better products and features to support them.
Whistleblower Frances Haugen, however, testified before the Senate Tuesday that Facebook knows that vulnerable people are harmed by its systems and has not made meaningful changes to prevent it. The platform is designed to exploit negative emotions to keep people on the platform, she said.
"They are aware of the side effects of the choices they have made around amplification," Haugen said. "They know that algorithmic-based rankings, or engagement-based rankings, keeps you on their sites longer. You have longer sessions, you show up more often, and that makes them more money."
Bickert pointed to features and tools Facebook has introduced over the years, such as hiding "like counts" on Instagram "which means when you post something, if you're a young person, you don't have to worry about how many people are going to like your post and whether people will see that."
But Facebook's own researchers found that hiding like counts did not help make teenagers feel better.
Sony reports healthy profits on strong sales of sensors and games
Sony's profit rose 69% in July-September from a year earlier on the back of strong sales of its image sensors, games, music and network services, the Japanese electronics and entertainment company said on Friday.
Quarterly profit was 338.5 billion yen ($2.2 billion), up from 200 billion yen in the year-earlier period, while consolidated quarterly sales edged up 3% year-on-year to 2.9 trillion yen ($19 billion).
Tokyo-based Sony's latest quarterly results were boosted by healthy demand around the world for image sensors used in mobile products.
Sales also held up in its video games division. During the latest quarter, 3.8 million PlayStation 5 game consoles were sold globally, compared with 4.9 million units sold the same period a year ago.
Demand remained strong for PS5 game software, according to Sony.
The top-selling music releases from Sony for the quarter included "SOS" by SZA, David Gilmour's "Luck and Strange" and Kenshi Yonezu's "Lost Corner."
One area where Sony's business suffered was its pictures division, including TV shows and movies, which was impacted by production delays caused by the strikes in Hollywood.
Among the recent hit films from Sony was "It Ends With Us," a romantic drama based on a novel.
Sony, which also makes digital cameras and TVs, maintained its 980-billion yen ($6.4 billion) profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2025, up 1% from the previous fiscal year.
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