According to Politico , the reason why former employee Frances Haugen can continue the battle with Facebook is as a result of she is being backed by eBay founder, billionaire Pierre Omidyar.
With complete assets of $ 25.3 billion, the French billionaire Pierre Omidyar Americans ranked twenty sixth in the list of 400 richest individuals of the magazine Forbes . Not solely founded the eBay digital marketplace, he’s additionally well-known as an anti- Big Tech . He has participated in numerous actions such as supporting press freedom in Hawaii, launching antitrust campaigns and helping employees’ activism.
Omidyar has donated $150,000 to Whistleblower Aid (an organization dedicated to supporting and defending “whistleblowers” – the term refers to people who denounce illegal activities of businesses), that is additionally the group that’s representing legal representation for Haugen.
Omidyar’s Luminate charity is launching a PR campaign for Haugen in Europe. Bill Burton – Haugen’s top PR representative within the US is from the Center for Humane Technology – a group sponsored by Omidyar.
In comparison with previous “whistleblowers” in the technology industry, Frances Haugen attracts attention thanks to her extensive connections with the press. The Wall Street Journal published a series of Facebook Files articles based mostly on documents she collected, and she later appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes .
Also intending to denounce Facebook, former employee Sophie Zhang received less attention from the public despite talking out since April 2021. However, after Frances Haugen delivered the first blow to Facebook, Zhang announced he was also open to testifying before Congress if required.
