New York, NY (CNN Business) It's been a rough last week for Facebook. Whistleblower Frances Haugen testified to Congress that the company is aware the platforms it uses for spreading hatred and false information, but it hasn't taken any steps to stop it. Social media company as well as some of its services also were affected by large-scale outages .
Facebook's executives have been criticized for putting profit ahead of the health of their users, drawing parallels with Big Tobacco. In "Reliable sources" on Sunday afternoon, CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter asked if this scandal is unique from the others the company has been through.
"Is it advisable to let only one man in his 30s hold an unquestioned power over an institution of this kind?" James Fallows, author of "Breaking the News" and a contributor for the Atlantic interviewed on "Reliable sources" Sunday.
"Their top policy officer has been slapping Sunday shows with a blanket," Axios media reporter Sara Fischer said of multiple interviews with Facebook's global head of communication, Nick Clegg. "That is not the case."
Facebook's stock has plunged more than 12% in the beginning of September, signalling the beginning of a "reputational shift" for Facebook.
"I have never seen the stock taking a long plunge like this in response to such news from the political world," Fischer said.
In earlier interviews, Clegg claimed that Facebook was responsible to incite or promote this Jan. 6 protest at the US Capitol.
A memo from Facebook that was that was leaked through Buzzfeed during April exposed how Facebook failed to stop the "Stop The steal" group from sabotaging the results of the 2020 presidential election and encouraging the Jan. 6. Riot.
In the "State of Union" Sunday, Clegg said that eliminating the algorithm will spread more misinformation and create more hatred.
"Given we've got millions of users who use this, I'm unable to give you a definitive yes or no to the individual feeds that every person has," Clegg said.
Clegg did mention the possibility that Facebook ( FB) could be a candidate for legislation that requires parental permission for children younger than 16 to access social media. He said there's "nothing as important or more vital than our children."
"If lawmakers decide to lay guidelines for us, as well as for Youtube, TikTok as well as for Youtube and Twitter regarding how young people should behave online, we'll follow the laws," Clegg said. "I believe it's appropriate to say that this is a topic that is of great bipartisan concern and debate."
Clegg also stated that he supports the regulations that would give an access into the algorithms of the firm, as well as the amendment of section 230 that shields the social media firms from responsibility for the content they publish on their platforms.
"You can't create regulations that are able to intervene in real time with regard to the way human beings are constantly interacting every second of the day with that many algorithmic processes," Clegg said, "but I believe in terms of transparency, yes it is possible."
Reforming or even eliminating Section 230 protections have been being debated during the time that The Biden administration cracks down on misinformation that has been spread on these platforms.
"The possibility of changing Section 230, my suggestion is to make the protection, that's provided to companies that operate online, such as Facebook dependent on them implementing the system and their policies the way they're required to." Clegg said. "And should they fail to adhere to the rules, they'll be liable for having that protection taken away."
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