The writer is a whistleblower and former Facebook employee

I became a whistleblower as a last resort. During my time at Facebook, I encountered the horrible truth that the company’s choices endangered lives around the world and that it had hidden the information the public needed to protect itself. That’s why I released documents that showed what the tech giant knew and how it had still failed to act.

Many call me brave but today I want to credit the role of an under-appreciated “early warning system” — civil society. Countless brilliant researchers and determined investigators from all over the world — Spain, France, Netherlands, Myanmar, India, Brazil — have spent years warning social media platforms and lawmakers of crises, often in real time. They have nowhere near the resources of Big Tech, yet much of the public’s analysis of social media’s harms is because of the massive evidence base they have created. Without this, emerging regulation would be built on theories of harm, as opposed to actual facts.