building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc 7 news. >> hello. i'm kristen sze. we ask experts questions to get answers for you in real-time. a silicon valley best-selling author is now film producer and she is casting for hollywood's next young stars. first, big news on capitol hill as a facebook whistleblower testified today on the failures of the world's largest social media platform. joining us to talk about what happened and where we go is ryan mack, tech reporter from the new york times, thanks for joining us.

ryan: thanks for having the. kristen: the former employee said i am here today because i believe facebook products armed children, stoped a vision and weaken democracy. do you think she succeeded in painting a picture that backs up that statement? >> she was a very credible witness. she was the only one testing in front of the senate commerce subcommittee. not only was she testifying, but she came with thousands of pages of documents that she sent to the fcc, certain congressional offices and lawmakers and regulators, she has been able to ask filtrate this internal research many people haven't seen from facebook and share it with the world. kristen: which piece of evidence

was most damming? ryan: there are a lot of eye-opening things in the documents and they run the gamut. the thing that has gotten the most attention as of late is this internal research on instagram's impact on teen mental health. there is some findings in this research that suggests that instagram can make negative feelings or negative body image feelings worse in teen girls. and that has kind of been the impetus for a lot of lawmakers to push to investigate these issues. today's hearing was titled, " instagram and teen mental health ." kristen: to me, the biggest point was that when facebook noticed traffic was down with likes and comments, they pushed

the algorithm that would trigger outrage or anger because they got or comments that way. ryan: there is nuance there. in 2018, the change was this pipit toward meaningful social interaction, this idea that you could rank posts in the newsfeed to weight things from your friends and family, so comments or posts from friends and family would show up. but it also placed a heavier weight on posts that drove comments and interactions. and but ended up happening is that the posts that generated the most comments were those that were pulled arising with anger and strong sentiment. in turn, the algorithm ranked those higher in people's feet, so you got this positive feedback -- in people's feed, so you got this positive feedback loop with the most negative

would appear on someone's facebook feed. kristen: facebook said frances haugen only worked for the company two years, never attended a meeting with high executives, is this anything but just trying to delegitimize the whistleblower? do you think she actually, to the general public or lawmakers or experts, seems legitimate? ryan: it could be an attempt to undermine her credibility. but the fact is, she has thousands of pages of research at her hands that she shared with lawmakers. it is not even like you have to take her word, she has facebook's word in a lot of the documents and research. even if facebook impugns her credibility, we still have these documents that we can look at,

that show how facebook is in some cases aware of the harm it perpetuates on the world. kristen: facebook said today, to suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true. but it also acknowledged the internet needs changing, or that we do need rules, kind of like saying it is not on us, we are actually with you that double system needs to be revisited. what do you make of that and what might come out of that? ryan: facebook is playing a very calculated game. because for a long time, many critics have pushed for congress to do something here, to make laws to oversee these massive tech companies, some that have grown to trillion dollars in market cap. and we have gotten very little to this point. so, facebook's may be relying on that a little and suggesting that, we will be in favor of regulation, maybe knowing that we are pretty far away from having any kind of consensus as

to what that looks like. kristen: to regulate, you need to understand the industry. the problem is, i think a lot on capitol hill, you report on it, don't seem to truly understand. how can the facebook inner workings become more transparent short of a leak by a whistleblower all the time, so that decision-makers do understand what is happening? ryan: it is tough. it is the chicken and egg problem, how do they know what is regulated if they can't see what is inside the company? what you're getting here is this first, very large document dump shown stuff we have never seen before. what is interesting today is, you have this bipartisan agreement, senators from both sides of the aisle coming into a mint that what frances haugen was showing was very meaningful to their interests and perhaps a

first step toward regulation. kristen: with this bipartisan sentiment we are seeing today regarding change, there seems to be a seismic shift in seismic facebook employees feel about their work as well. can you talk about that? people working there now, what is their sense? ryan: it is interesting, i have covered this company for more than three years now. and the company has been hit with crisis after crisis, to the point where facebook has these internal surveys where they track employee sentiment, and they asked employees, do you think facebook is good for the world? i think that metric is around the 50% mark, 50%-60%. so there is a large contingent of people in the company who think their products aren't good for the world. that is telling. i don't know, will we see more people coming forward? that is a big question. senator blumenthal, who led the

meeting today, asked for more people in the company to come forward, but it is a tall order and i think that remains to be seen. kristen: speaking of senator richard newman tall, he said the whistleblower wants to fix facebook, not burnett to the ground. others say burning it to the ground is what we need and we don't need to shed a tear because as dominant and as much as we think we need facebook now, others will rise, the second facebook falls. do you agree? ryan: there is of the competition. there is tiktok and snapchat. but i think that is one of the mower -- one of the more interesting things about this whistleblower, that she wants to fix the company. when it comes to antitrust regulation, the ftc is suing facebook and wants to break up the company. she believes that is not the path forward in terms of regulating or obtaining any type of solution towards the problems facebook batch weights. so, she is not actually in favor

of antitrust regulation that the ftc is pursuing. so yeah, with regard to competition, i think facebook argue there are other companies out there, tiktok and snapchat among them, but it is undeniable -- the company has more than 3 billion people on one of its services now who actively use it, so it be -- so, it is becoming a big part of our lives. kristen: as i saw in an op-ed in "the new york times," they wrote that facebook is in trouble, and it is a steady decline in by a giant who is dying and using the fact they are using -- they are losing shares among young people as the evidence. you think the inability to attract young people and the sentiment of young people saying that it is for old people a problem for facebook? ryan: i think you are referencing a column from my

colleague kevin, who said that the documents are a very revealing look into facebook. because they show, especially with teen stuff, that they are grasping. they are trying to capture a user base that is leading them, these gen z users that are going to other services. that is one of the more telling parts of this, of these documents, that they are struggling to the point where they can't understand where the next days of growth is going to be. that is quite revealing. a company like facebook is driven by growth. what is the next audience they can capture? these documents show they are grasping at this point. kristen: i would like to get your thoughts on what reforms you think might be coming, either in the form of regulation or facebook's own changes? ryan: the most immediate thing i think both sides of the aisle

are focused on his teen mental health with regards to instagram. that has a lot of traction behind it. the whistleblower today talked about algorithm transparency, transparency into how things are ranked on newsfeeds beyond facebook as well. so i think there is a lot of discussion around that. i think we are still far away from seeing something like that. numerous bills have been proposed, but really no traction on the house floor senate floor. so, i think we are still a bit away from seeing something coherent. kristen: ryan mac, tech reporter with "the new york times" thank you. coming out, a bay area author's best-selling book is

mark himself. >> do you have a 19 or early 20y something hoping to be the next break hollywood star. is tearing up our society. -- >> thanks for having me back. kristen: you came into the studio and taped an interview with us the day the world changed when coronavirus took over our lives. so much craziness has happened, but so much has happened to you since then. catch us up on what happened since your boat -- your book became so popular? >> the book at the new york

times list. it was optioned. the book was selected by a number of publications including cosmopolitan, which made it their number-one audiobook of the year. in october last year, i was able to get a special visa to go to taipei for book two, love boat reunion,, which is coming out in january of next year. kristen: and you're getting ready to make the film. i understand you are heading to taiwan, but before that, you have to do casting to talk about that because i want our viewers to hear this. you are in search of the lead characters, right? >> yes. there is a general casting call on my social media channels as well as traditional channels in hollywood. there is an email address where you can send your headshot, can't -- content -- headshot, contact information. the deadline is this friday.

when i wrote the book with asian characters, i knew it was going to be about casting a lot of unknowns. i am excited to see a diverse slate of actors on the screen. kristen: for people considering, could this be my child or, is this me, tell people about the story because love boat taipei has been described as a hybrid of crazy rich asians, jane austen and lala land. >> my main character is a dancer growing up in ohio who is going to med school, but really wants to be a dancer. so this is what she is struggling within the journey over the course of the story is how she can be her authentic self while still honoring her parents. kristen: but she has a love triangle going on with two

adorable teen boys, and you are casting for those roles as well, but i wonder if, we see the picture of the book cover, is that based on your own life in some ways? >> love boat is a program in taiwan where parents have been sending their kids since the 1960's. it is for asian americans, chinese americans, to learn culture for the summer and traditionally find a spouse. that is how i sneak in love boat. i went into the program and my husband also went into the program a summer before me. it is this crazy experience that wasn't well known outside of the committed to, where the kids are dropped off in this foreign country, alone, unsupervised for the first time, and they go wild. there is speaking out, clubbing, touring night markets, touring the island, people take a glamour shots,

this free-for-all. but it is also a time to explore identity and that is what the first book is about. all these young adults, asian americans, dropped off to figure out who am i? kristen: i have interviewed people who went on the love boat experience and they say what is special is that they grope in the u.s. and sometimes you feel like an outsider, especially those who didn't grow up in the bay area, there are not a lot of asians and there is self-doubt about your appearance enter culture and to get dropped in taiwan where it is, everybody here looks like me. and there's this kind of awakening. and that is explored in the book? abigail: the first time, her asianess matters. i experienced this in ohio, in the mall, people speaking

chinese to us, and i studied a lot about china in college, i studied international relations. at the time it made me uncomfortable and on a program like this where everyone looked exactly like me, it was this layer of myself that allowed me to prove other aspects of my identity, like my interest in world politics, global questions, all those things, or just being a girl with guys who had crushes on me, all that was an important part of my experience. and it was such a gift to have that. i think it was the only time in my life where that has been the case, and probably will never happen -- never have that again. kristen: crazy rich asians catapulted many asian american actors to the a list, previously unknown. is that a model you hope hope follow? abigail: absolutely. harry potter created a bunch of

new stars and love boat inevitably is going to have to be people who have never been seen before. i am excited to have them on the screen. kristen: you are looking for 18 to early 20's and able to film in taiwan in november and december? abigail: that is what is on the casting call, right. kristen: tell us about love boat reunion and when it comes out. >> love boat reunion comes on january 25 with harpercollins. it picks up where this one leaves off. it follows to fan favorites, sophie and xavier. i love reading the fan mail and there was justice for xavier comment, so here it is. book one is about identity, book two is about characters coming into their own power and sophie and big xavier find a way to take charge of their futures. kristen: i love it. like the first runner-up in the bachelorette, people clamoring for their own story in which they can be the stars, and here

it is. is that the final one or will there be more? abigail: i can't say. i have 12 projects right now. kristen: abigail, congratulations on everything on folks, if you want to submit casting videos, that information will be on our website. congratulations. coming up next, you don't hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. -what, you mean-- -mhm. -just like that. -wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am.

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and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. (soft music) ♪ ♪ hello, colonial penn? kristen: abc 7 is proud to celebrate hispanic heritage month and we are spotlighting some of the bay area's most impactful organizations. one organization that has been here for the latino community for 51 years is la raza and san francisco. gabriel medina is the executive director. gabriel, thanks for joining us. gabriel: i am doing well.

kristen: thank you for having me. kristen:congratulations on 51 years. you serve 15,000 families a year, that has to be more than half a million people over the course of the organization's existence. that is awesome. i want to talk about how much you have doing, from food housing to family support at la raza. >> the types of services we have been providing have been stepped up in response to the covid pandemic. that includes food pantry, rental subsidies, social services, immigration legal defense, daca and comprehensive, wraparound services for immigrant families. kristen: in addition to the pandemic that has led to job loss, housing laws, insurance loss for families, there is the issue of migrants needing

support. i know you have supported caravans, many with families, talk about that aspect of what you have been doing. gabriel: we are always politically involved, whether it is a protest or meeting with our officials. but most importantly, we are looking at the right here right now for immigrant families. we established a service connection mercy fund, which helps families an immediate crisis, whether it is food, diapers, rental, furniture, something they need right away, so that families don't have to make a choice between rent or food or clothes and food come all those things. kristen: you have been executive director for nine months, but your family has a long history with the organization. tell us about that. gabriel: i come from a line of executive directors in the mission. both my mom and dad were mission executive directors. but this one, which neither of

them work for, they were founding board members. they started in my grandfather's garage across from st. paul's church at church and dei streets. -- day streets. kristen: i know fundraising has become difficult in this past year, like all nonprofits. what can people do to support you and i know you have something coming up? gabriel: we weren't able to celebrate our 50th anniversary last year because of the pandemic. we canceled. but this year, for our 51st anniversary, we have la raza we are honoring our executive rector, and it is been a great

honor that it has been a great honor to be mentored by your. it is october 14, hispanic heritage month, this is a great way to honor our leaders. kristen: and people can get tickets at

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joining us on this interactive show, "getting answers." tomorrow, the former sanford -- standford sailing coach it was in the middle of the varsity blues college admissions scandal. he is out with a new book.

we talk with him. he defends his actions. there is more to it, interesting conversation tomorrow at 3:00 on . tonight, the facebook whistle-blower and what she revealed on capitol hill. frances haugen, a former facebook product manager leaving facebook with thousands of pages of internal documents, telling senators today, quote, almost no one outside of facebook knows what happens inside of facebook. tonight, you will hear what she told lawmakers, scathing allegations. among them, claiming the company's own research shows users respond to hate and anger. the more they see of it, the longer they stay on the platform and she says the more money facebook then makes on ads. and what she claims about children, young girls and what social media does to them. facebook reacting tonight and terry moran is standing by. major news tonight on the johnson & johnson vaccine and the potential booster,