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Title: Facebook Whistleblower Alleges Meta's AI Model Llama Was Used to Help
DeepSeek

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/04/12/0672...

A former Facebook employee/whistleblower alleges Meta's AI model Lllama was
used to help DeepSeek. The whistleblower - former Facebook director of global
policy Sarah Wynn-Williams - testified before U.S. Senators on Wednesday. CBS
News found this earlier response from Meta: In a statement last year on
Llama, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone wrote, "The alleged role of a single and
outdated version of an American open-source model is irrelevant when we know
China is already investing over 1T to surpass the US technologically, and
Chinese tech companies are releasing their own open AI models as fast, or
faster, than US ones." Wynn-Williams encouraged senators to continue
investigating Meta's role in the development of artificial intelligence in
China, as they continue their probe into the social media company founded by
Zuckerberg. "The greatest trick Mark Zuckerberg ever pulled was wrapping the
American flag around himself and calling himself a patriot and saying he
didn't offer services in China, while he spent the last decade building an
$18 billion business there," she said. The testimony also left some of the
lawmakers skeptical of Zuckerberg's commitment to free speech after the
whistleblower also alleged Facebook worked "hand in glove" with the Chinese
government to censor its platforms: In her almost seven years with the
company, Wynn-Williams told the panel she witnessed the company provide
"custom built censorship tools" for the Chinese Communist Party. She said a
Chinese dissident living in the United States was removed from Facebook in
2017 after pressure from Chinese officials. Facebook said at the time it took
action against the regime critic, Guo Wengui, for sharing someone else's
personal information. Wynn-Williams described the use of a "virality counter"
that flagged posts with over 10,000 views for review by a "chief editor,"
which Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called "an Orwellian
censor." These "virality counters" were used not only in Mainland China, but
also in Hong Kong and Taiwan, according to Wynn-Williams's testimony. Wynn-
Williams also told senators Chinese officials could "potentially access" the
data of American users.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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