--- title: "Facebook Whistleblower Warns That Zuckerberg Wants to Fill Your House With Microphones" description: "The Facebook whistleblower is back — and this time, she's implicating the Metaverse." date: "2022-04-13" modified: "2022-04-13" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-whistleblower-microphones" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "metaverse" - "privacy" - "the digest" - "vr" --- # Facebook Whistleblower Warns That Zuckerberg Wants to Fill Your House With Microphones ![The Facebook whistleblower is back — and this time, she's implicating the Metaverse.]() *\Image: Facebook/Futurism\* ## She's Back The Facebook whistleblower is back — and this time, she's implicating the Metaverse. In [a new interview with *Politico*](), former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen said that she sees Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's vision for his company's Metaverse as just another excuse to increase the company's already significant surveillance of users. "I'm super concerned about how many sensors are involved," Haugen told *Politico*. "When we do the metaverse, we have to put lots more microphones from Facebook; lots more other kinds of sensors into our homes." Based on both [official statements from Facebook]() and [patents the company has filed]() in recent months since it rebranded itself as "Meta," its metaverse will involve not just virtual reality headsets but also full-body sensors that track everything from one's heart rate to eye movements. While the current iterations of Facebook's Metaverse and others like it currently feature underwhelming graphics — including the [puzzling absence of ]()[legs]() — big tech is flooding money into the efforts to them as ubiquitous and profitable as today's non-metaverse social networks. ## Trust Fund As we've seen with social media and the internet at large, regulation often lags behind innovation, leaving little doubt that Meta and the other companies pumping money into metaverse tech will bring accusations of poor ethics in new domains. "You don't really have a choice now on whether or not you want Facebook spying on you at home," Haugen said of the metaverse. "We just have to trust the company to do the right thing." It's a grim outlook — but given that Haugen risked a lot by [taking a giant cache of embarrassing documents]() about the company, she's probably a voice worth listening to. **READ MORE:** [The Facebook whistleblower takes on the metaverse]() \[*Politico*\] **More on Facebook, er, Meta:** *[Facebook Secretly Working on Virtual Currency Dubbed "Zuck Bucks"]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()