Facebook 'whistleblower' Frances Haugen speaks at Iowa City West graduation. Here was her message.

Frances Haugen, a former product manager at Facebook who leaked documents to The Wall Street Journal and lawmakers in 2021, was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award by Iowa City West High School principal Mitch Gross during a commencement ceremony Sunday.

"It's our responsibility to figure out what to do with social media and how to ensure it helps the public access and digest information," Haugen told the graduates at her alma mater.

Haugen worked for Facebook for nearly two years on the civic integrity team, charged with combating election interference and misinformation. She reviewed thousands of documents over several weeks before leaving the company in May 2021.

"The reality is, social media is not a mirror. Some content gets distribution and other content doesn't," Haugen said. "Because of unaccountable algorithms that we never get to weigh in on. Social media is not a mirror. It's an amplifier. Content that is sensationalistic draws attention, draws engagement. And as a result is shown to more people more often. That's where it gets dangerous."

Haugen told the audience at Xtream Arena in Coralville that she doesn’t believe any person is likely to give up on using social media when dance routines, recipes and comments with friends can provide value in their lives.

More: Long before becoming the 'Facebook whistleblower,' Frances Haugen was a curious student in Iowa City

"The challenges of social media are not the ones that individuals can solve on their own, she said. "If you would decide you want to spend less time on social media and more on your friends, you can't make that decision just on your own unless your friends make it at the same time. Similarly, each of us as individuals walking away from social media won't accomplish a lot, if the most vulnerable in society are the ones left online."

Haugen attended Horn Elementary, Northwest Junior High School and Iowa City West, graduating in 2002, according to Press-Citizen archives. News clippings show she loved geography and participated in debate and engineering competitions.

"You've been given an amazing gift growing up in Iowa City. And if you are so fortunate as to build upon that gift and find yourself at a tech company, remind each other that you still get to make choices — that each of us can meaningfully change the path of even a large organization," she told graduates.

Joseph Cress is a photojournalist for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Follow him on Twitter at @josephwcress.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Frances Haugen, Facebook whistleblower, Iowa City West graduate speech