A former Facebook Inc. executive turned whistleblower just revealed her identity after sharing several controversial documents with the Wall Street Journal over the last few weeks.

Frances Haugen (pictured), 37, was a product manager on the civic integrity team at the company before she decided to become a whistleblower. Prior to revealing her identity, she leaked internal documents from Facebook that pointed to a number of worrying issues.

One of those issues involved documents that suggested Facebook downplayed the negative effect Instagram has on the mental health of the young. Other documents exposed the truth behind Facebook’s VIP moderation program, a “cross-check” system that gives millions of high-profile users immunity to the company’s regular moderation practices.

The Journal didn’t state at the time where the leaks were coming from. Thanks to a CBS 60 Minutes program aired Sunday, we now know. Haugen said in that interview that she left Facebook earlier in the year after becoming disenchanted with how things work at the company.

She said that she was “an advocate for public oversight of social media” and didn’t want to bring down her former employee – rather, she wants to improve what exists. At the moment, she said, Facebook invests a lot more time in growth than it does safety. That, of course, contradicts Facebook’s line.

“The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook,” Haugen said. “Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money.”

This, she said, exasperated her and so she got to work copying thousands of internal documents that she later handed over to the Journal. She also said that while Facebook tells the public that it works on stamping out hate speech and the spread of misinformation, it knows that it needs such divisive content to drive growth.

“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they’ll click on less ads, they’ll make less money,” Haugen said in the bombshell statement, though the sentiment itself is hardly new. Facebook later countered, saying, “To suggest we encourage bad content, know about it, and do nothing is just not true.”

Haugen has now filed eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that Facebook has “for years past and ongoing, violated U.S. securities laws by making material misrepresentations and omissions in statements to investors and prospective investors, including, inter alia, through filings with the SEC, testimony to Congress, online statements and media stories.”

Photo: CBS 60 Minutes