There is a paradox in the title of this book, The Power of One, by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. It is an accurate description on one level, because the powerful whistleblowing that led to demands for stronger regulation and accountability in Big Tech was indeed the courageous choice of a lone individual, the author, an American engineer and data scientist. But as the book underscores, Haugen’s whistleblowing was successful – in that it achieved impact and she has walked away relatively unscathed – because of the ecosystem that surrounded her. Lawyers, media advisers, journalists, politicians, and civil society helped her to speak up and then amplified her calls for change. The whistleblowing that Haugen documents might more accurately be described as the power of a community dedicated to ensuring that one voice reaches the minds of many.

In September and October 2021, a 22,000-page trove of internal company documents – dubbed the Facebook Files – became public. The leak was the culmination of whistleblowing by Haugen to an American regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Congress. The Files were initially published by the Wall Street Journal and then subsequently a consortium of American and European publications. It was a well-orchestrated campaign against Facebook that revealed stunning wrongdoing inside the tech platform.