Housing experts say high mortgage rates are adding to housing affordability challenges.
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Higher mortgage rates are making it tougher for people to move or achieve homeownership.
The Atlanta Fed examines the income required for homeownership to cost no more than 30% of income.
The analysis showed that’s now well above the actual median household income.
A few years ago, Americans were able to check off their goal of becoming homeowners thanks to historically low mortgage rates. It’s harder to achieve that dream these days.
The average 30-year fixed rate was at 7.4% for the week ending October 8, making it challenging for both newcomers and homeowners looking to move. Home prices, utilities, and other homeownership-related costs have increased.
A CNBC/SurveyMonkey quarterly survey found that about a third of renters want to own a home but don’t think that will ever be possible due to affordability. Multiple factors are making it tough to purchase a place.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta tracks the household income required for homeownership. The bank defines “qualified income” to be no more than 30% of income spent on costs, including principal and interest payments, property taxes, property insurance, a 10% down payment, and private mortgage insurance.
That qualified income — what you need to actually afford a home without breaking the bank — darted away from actual median income in 2021 and remains elevated, at about 1.5 times the actual median income as of July.
“Our country, historically, if you made the median income or you made below the median income, you could still be a homebuyer,” said Domonic Purviance of the Atlanta Fed’s Supervision and Regulation Division. “Well, that’s less likely today. What’s likely to be the case is owning a home is primarily an option for higher-income households just based on where affordability is.”
“If home prices are held constant and interest rates are held constant, and the only thing you adjusted was incomes, then incomes would have to increase by 46% in order to make housing affordable,” Purviance said, adding that the main factor behind the widening is the jump in mortgage rates over the past few months.
Given how rates have climbed since the affordability tracker’s most recent July estimate, Purviance said it’s likely the gap has increased. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has risen to its highest level since 2023.
Purviance said there are some housing markets, like in Austin, where home prices have softened, but not enough to make “a significant dent in the housing affordability picture.” He said people shouldn’t think they’ll buy when prices return to pre-pandemic levels, because that’s unlikely to happen.
“Really, the only thing that can really create greater affordability, at least natural market forces, is if you see interest rates adjust below their longer-term average,” he said. People who have been locked into lower rates may be more willing to sell their home if that were the case, which Purviance said could create some downward pressure on prices.
Still, people are buying; new single-family house sales increased from July to August, although existing home sales fell. Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, said people looking to buy might be able to find some deals as existing homeowners become more desperate to sell. Redfin’s data showed the share of active listings with a price drop in August was near the series high of 20%, although the average size of the drop is down from its level at the start of the data in 2012 — 4.1% versus 6.2%.
“Markets where there’s a lot of new construction, builders are especially eager to make deals and lower their prices and offer concessions like mortgage rate buydowns or cash at closing,” Fairweather said. “So affordability is still a huge problem, but there are ways that buyers are getting at least a slightly better deal in this market.”
Elon Musk said Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, should lose his job on X. Bastian said there’s no drama between the businessmen.
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Ed Bastian said there’s no feud with Elon Musk — and he’s a big fan of the trillionaire’s projects.
“I drive a Tesla,” he told CNBC.
Musk has ramped up his criticism of Delta after some unconfirmed comments from the airline CEO.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian said he doesn’t have a public feud with the world’s richest man.
“There’s no tit-for-tat, as far as I’m concerned,” he said during a Friday interview with CNBC when asked about Elon Musk’s recent X offensive against the airline. “I’m a big fan of Starlink. I’m a fan of what Elon does. I drive a Tesla. OK? So there’s nothing. All this nonsense about being personal is not true at all.”
The apparently one-sided battle appears to have started in March, when the airline chose Amazon’s Leo as its next-generation satellite internet provider over SpaceX’s Starlink. At the time, Musk made one post, warning the airline “doesn’t realize how much this will affect them.”
Musk has stepped up his criticisms of Bastian and Delta in the past two weeks after aviation-industry X account, JonNYC, posted unconfirmed quotes from Bastian, including a comment warning that, “We do not want to be with Elon Musk. Trust me.”
The same day, Musk reposted an article with the unverified comments, saying that Bastian would “lose his job over this.”
Musk has posted several other times about Delta since the unconfirmed comment, making fun of the airline’s internet choice: “Best way to sandbox an AI is to put it on a Delta flight,” he wrote in late September.
Bastian is not the first airline CEO to draw Musk’s ire. In January, Musk and Michael O’Leary, the CEO of the European budget airline Ryanair, exchanged jabs on X because the company didn’t install Starlink on its planes over what it said were cost issues.
At the time, Musk polled X users, asking if he should buy RyanAir and find someone named Ryan to take over as the main boss. O’Leary, who has fashioned himself as an outspoken chief executive, launched a “great idiots” seat sale in response.
Delta’s Bastian is taking a very different tack.
“I don’t pay any attention,” he said when asked about the feud on CNBC. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.”
Delta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Tech billionaires are obsessed with “reprogramming” their bodies for longevity.
Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Yuri Milner, and Sam Altman have all invested in the rejuvenation strategy.
The very first human attempt at cellular reprogramming is underway, and it looks like it’s working.
Getting old can be painful. Stick around long enough, and you’re bound to weather some kind of age-related decline, like creaky joints, clogged arteries, or vision loss.
Silicon Valley billionaires, including Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, Yuri Milner, and Sam Altman, who want to skip all that mess and reprogram their cells back to a more youthful state, have invested in startups working on the hottest trend in longevity science: cellular reprogramming.
The technique has rejuvenated lots of mice and monkeys, but it had never been tried in humans — until this year. The first human trial of cellular reprogramming is underway at Life Biosciences, where patients are being dosed with a first-of-its-kind rejuvenation therapy for glaucoma, an eye disease that can cause vision loss.
On Thursday, Life Biosciences released its first safety data. So far, three patients received the experimental therapy: an eye injection, coupled with eight weeks of daily antibiotics that turn on the rejuvenation factors inside their cells. The company said none of the patients reported major side effects and that it was “well-tolerated.”
The goal of the treatment is to essentially turn back time at the cellular level, making old eyes young again by delivering genetic programming instructions,similar to those that rejuvenate stem cells and embryos.
The first cellular reprogramming therapy aims to rejuvenate people’s eyeballs, restoring sight.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Cellular reprogramming as a ‘master key’ for age-related health issues
There are some early signals that the technique might be working. Two of the three patients showed significant vision improvements on a standard eye exam, suggesting that the new drug might be restoring sight, or at least improving it.
Dr. James Tsai, president of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, told Business Insider the news is “exciting,” but very preliminary. Tsai, a glaucoma specialist who was not involved in this trial, said it’s possible the therapy did not fully regenerate the eyeball but merely improved existing electrical signals in patients who still had some vision.
“I need a lot more information to say, ‘Hey, we’re truly at the holy grail of really reversing vision [loss],'” he said. “The exciting thing is they’ve done it in humans.”
Based on the positive results, an independent safety monitoring board has approved a threefold increase in dose for the next group of patients in the study, which could improve the therapy’s effectiveness.
If Life Biosciences’s initial trial of this technology proves successful, it could be applied to other diseases next. Its chief operating officer, Michael Ringel, points to successful animal trials of cellular reprogramming for various age-related conditions, including arthritis, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, and even brain diseases like Alzheimer’s.
“We believe it has the potential to really be a master key to address a broad range of age-related diseases,” Ringel said. “But of course, that’s something that will have to be shown clinically. We have to prove it, not just think it.”
Silicon Valley is racing toward human trials for longevity
Cellular reprogramming could be applied to other areas of the body, rejuvenating joints or vital organs, including the brain.
FS Productions/Getty Images
Life Biosciences is the first company to try this longevity technique in humans, but several Silicon Valley biotech startups are gunning to get into the race next. Jeff Bezos-backed Altos Labs hired clinical trial expert Joan Mannick last year, appointing her as head of product development.
“You only bring in Joan if you have something that’s getting ready for trial,” longevity scientist and XPRIZE Healthspan director Jaime Justice said.
Then there is New Limit, which recently raised $435 million in a Series C round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. The company has been bullish about its ambitions to begin its first human trials of a liver-cell reprogramming therapy in 2027. And Sam Altman-backed Retro Biosciences is also researching the idea.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
On Thursday, a judge said that the search warrants used to search his homes were unlawful.
The arrest followed years of public scrutiny over Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
The investigation into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor received a setback.
Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was arrested by Thames Valley Police, the local force for southeast England, at a royal home on suspicion of misconduct in public office related to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein in February 2026.
On Thursday, a judge said that search warrants issued at the time of his arrest were unlawful. Still, the Thames Valley Police’s investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to Epstein continues.
Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any involvement with Epstein’s sex-trafficking crimes. However, his relationship with Epstein has been under scrutiny for over a decade, as Virginia Giuffre named him in a lawsuit she filed against Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.
That scrutiny only intensified after the release of documents in the Epstein files in early 2026. According to emails released, the former prince appeared to forward reports related to his work as UK trade envoy to Epstein in 2010 and 2011.
King Charles said in a statement at the time of the arrest that “the law must take its course” and that the authorities had the royal family’s “full and wholehearted support and co-operation.”
Here’s a timeline of Mountbatten-Windsor’s connection to Epstein.
1999: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Jeffrey Epstein reportedly met through Ghislaine Maxwell.
Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck, and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in 2000.
Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
As the BBC reported, Ghislaine Maxwell introduced Epstein to Mountbatten-Windsor in 1999.
The trio remained friends throughout the early 2000s, with Epstein and Maxwell attending parties at Windsor Castle and Sandringham. The three were also photographed together at events, including a 2000 party at Mar-a-Lago with Donald and Melania Trump and the 2000 Royal Ascot. Epstein and Maxwell were also photographed at Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party in July 2006, the BBC reported.
In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor under the age of 18, and was sentenced to 18 months. Mountbatten-Windsor visited Epstein in New York in December 2010, just four months after Epstein’s release.
Mountbatten-Windsor said it was a “mistake and an error” to visit Epstein after he was convicted of the sex crime in a statement released by Buckingham Palace in August 2019.
April 2015: Virginia Giuffre sued Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell for defamation, naming Mountbatten-Windsor in the suit.
Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, then known as Virginia Roberts, along with Ghislaine Maxwell. This photo was included in an affidavit where Giuffre claimed Prince Andrew directed her to have sex with him.
Giuffre alleged that Epstein forced her to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor in his New York mansion, in London, and on Epstein’s private island in the US Virgin Islands in 2001 when she was 17.
However, the allegation was thrown out and struck from the record by a judge, who said it was “immaterial and impertinent to the central claim” in the case at the time.
August 2019: Giuffre’s allegations were made public when documents from the 2015 case were unsealed.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor at he funeral of Britain’s Prince Philip in April 2021.
In the documents related to sex-trafficking charges against Epstein, witness Johanna Sjoberg told investigators about a sexual incident that she said happened, and involved herself, Maxwell, Mountbatten-Windsor, Giuffre, and a puppet of the prince.
“Andrew and Virginia sat on the couch, and they put the puppet … on her lap,” Sjoberg was quoted as saying in the documents. “I sat on Andrew’s lap, I believe on my own volition, and they took the puppet’s hands and put it on Virginia’s breast, and so Andrew put his on mine.”
Buckingham Palace denied Mountbatten-Windsor’s alleged involvement with Giuffre in a statement at the time.
“It is emphatically denied that The Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts,” the palace’s statement read. “Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
August 2019: Giuffre said Mountbatten-Windsor “knows exactly what he’s done” after the royal denied involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.
Prince Andrew, left, and Jeffrey Epstein, right.
AP/Sang Tan, Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Mountbatten-Windsor made a statement after Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019, saying he sympathized “with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure.”
Mountbatten-Windsor added that during the time he knew Epstein, he did not witness or “suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction.”
Giuffre responded with a statement of her own. Speaking to reporters outside a Manhattan court at the time, she said the prince “knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it.”
November 2019: The then-prince stepped down from his royal duties days after a disastrous BBC “Newsnight” interview.
He also said during the interview that on the night Giuffre alleged they had dinner, partied at a club in London called Tramp, and later had sex, that he was at home with his daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie.
The interview was perceived negatively and labeled a “car crash” by much of the British media.
“It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support,” Mountbatten-Windsor said in a statement.
After saying that the Queen had given him her permission to step back from his duties, Mountbatten-Windsor said he continued “to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein.”
He added that he would be “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”
August 2021: Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Mountbatten-Windsor, accusing him of sexual assault.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre at a press conference in 2019.
Associated Press
In a complaint filed at a New York federal court in August 2021, Giuffre said Mountbatten-Windsor was aware of her age and that she was a victim of sex trafficking when she was forced to have sex with him in 2001.
“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions,” Giuffre said, via her lawyers, in a statement to ABC.
January 2022: A judge denied Mountbatten-Windsor’s motion to dismiss the case, and the Queen stripped him of his military titles and patronages.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York & Queen Elizabeth II watch the horses in the parade ring as they attend Day 2 of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse on June 18, 2014 in Ascot, England.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan denied Mountbatten-Windsor’s motion to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit on January 12, 2022, ruling that it was “denied in all respects,” allowing the case to proceed to trial. The new ruling did not preclude the parties from settling before the trial.
A day later, Buckingham Palace issued a statement announcing that Mountbatten-Windsor would face the lawsuit as a private citizen.
“With The Queen’s approval and agreement, The Duke of York’s military affiliations and Royal patronages have been returned to The Queen,” a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said in a statement sent to Business Insider. “The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.”
Mountbatten-Windsor stopped using the HRH title in any official capacity after the removal of the patronages and military affiliations, a royal source told Business Insider.
February 2022: Mountbatten-Windsor reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre.
Princess Anne, Princess Royal and Prince Andrew, Duke of York attend the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on April 17, 2021 in Windsor, England.
Mountbatten-Windsor intended to make a “substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights,” the sum of which was not disclosed, according to a joint statement made in the court filing.
The statement added: “Prince Andrew has never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks. It is known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years.”
October 2022: Maxwell called Mountbatten-Windsor her “dear friend” in an interview.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Royal Ascot in June 2000.
Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
In October 2022, The Mail on Sunday published an interview with Maxwell, who was imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, at the time after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking girls for Epstein.
In the interview, she referred to Mountbatten-Windsor as her “dear friend” and expressed concern for him.
“He is paying such a price for the association with Jeffrey Epstein,” Maxwell said. “I care about him, and I feel so bad for him.”
Maxwell’s comments contradicted those of Mountbatten-Windsor, who denied he was close to Maxwell during his legal proceedings with Guiffre.
January 2024: Mountbatten-Windsor was named in unsealed court documents about Epstein.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in December 2023.
Stephen Pond/Getty Images
As part of a lawsuit between an Epstein accuser and Maxwell, a New York judge unsealed the names of more than 170 of Epstein’s associates.
Mountbatten-Windsor was among those identified in the documents, as were Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
The documents further undermined Mountbatten-Windsor’s assertion that he wasn’t close friends with Maxwell or Epstein, as the manager of Epstein’s Palm Beach home, Juan Alessi, said in a 2009 deposition that the former prince spent weeks at Epstein’s home and received “daily massages.”
In addition, Alessi said Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Mountbatten-Windsor, was also a close friend of Epstein.
October 2025: Mountbatten-Windsor gave up his royal titles.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in September 2025.
JORDAN PETTITT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Mountbatten-Windsor tried to rehabilitate his image in 2024 and early 2025 and return to the public eye. Still, the continual release of new information about his relationship with Epstein made his attempts futile.
“In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family,” the statement said. “I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.”
“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further,” he went on to say. “I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
The royal stopped being known as Prince Andrew after the announcement, going by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
January 2026: The Department of Justice released more Epstein files, including photos of Mountbatten-Windsor appearing to kneel over an unidentified woman.
Prince Andrew has lost his royal titles following scandals involving Jeffrey Epstein and an alleged Chinese spy.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
The January 30, 2026, drop of Epstein files included photos of Mountbatten-Windsor appearing to kneel over an unidentified woman, who was clothed and lying on the floor. It’s unclear when or where the photos were taken.
The files also include emails between Epstein and an account called “The Duke,” who signs his emails “A,” as well as exchanges between Epstein and Ferguson.
February 2026: Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor leaves Aylsham Police Station the same day he was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office in February 2026.
The former prince served as UK trade envoy from 2001 to 2011, and the Epstein files appear to show Mountbatten-Windsor forwarding emails with his official work reports to the disgraced financier in 2010 and 2011.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,” Oliver Wright, the assistant chief constable with the Thames Valley Police, said. “It is important that we protect the integrity and objectivity of our investigation as we work with our partners to investigate this alleged offence.”
King Charles released a statement about the arrest at the time.
“I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office,” it said. “What now follows is the full, fair, and proper process by which this issue is investigated in the appropriate manner and by the appropriate authorities. In this, as I have said before, they have our full and wholehearted support and co-operation.”
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,” the king’s statement went on to say. “As this process continues, it would not be right for me to comment further on this matter. Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”
Police were photographed at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, where Mountbatten-Windsor had been living, as well as his previous residence in Berkshire, on the day of his arrest, carrying out searches of the properties.
The police released Mountbatten-Windsor under investigation around 11 hours after his arrest, AP reported. He was photographed leaving the Aylsham Police Station in a car.
October 2026: A judge said the search warrants Thames Valley Police used to raid Mountbatten-Windsor’s homes were unlawful.
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in April 2025.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
On October 4, The Telegraph first reported that the former prince launched a judicial review of the warrants that Thames Valley Police used to search his home in Sandringham and his former Berkshire residence.
At a hearing on the matter on October 8, a London judge, Nicholas Hilliard, said there were errors in the original warrant application. The Thames Valley Police issued a statement on its website on the same day, acknowledging that the warrants had been issued in error and stating that it planned to continue its investigation into Mountbatten-Windsor’s actions despite the legal setback.
“We accept the position that the initial court’s decision to issue warrants under the specific piece of legislation used was incorrect and therefore these must be legally quashed,” the statement said.
“Legal proceedings are currently ongoing to decide how material seized during the searches will be managed and whether we can lawfully retain it in support of our ongoing investigation,” it continued.
Mountbatten-Windsor’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Billed as a companion piece to the 2010 hit film “The Social Network,” which told the story of Facebook’s early-aughts founding and rapid climb to a multibillion-dollar valuation, “The Social Reckoning” stars Jeremy Strong as a grown-up Zuckerberg in the throes of wealth, power, and scandal.
Starting in September 2021, The Wall Street Journal published “The Facebook Files,” an investigative series made possible by Haugen, a data scientist and former product manager on Facebook’s civic integrity team.
Haugen leaked tens of thousands of internal documents after leaving the company, sharing many with reporter Jeff Horwitz (played by Jeremy Allen White) to expose its harmful policies and prompt change at the company.
Here’s everything to know about the real-life woman who inspired Madison’s character.
Frances Haugen began her career at Google in 2006
Aaron Sorkin and Mikey Madison on the set of “The Social Reckoning.”
Sony
Born and raised in Iowa, Haugen studied computer engineering and later earned a master’s degree in business from Harvard.
In her 2023 memoir, “The Power of One,” Haugen writes that when she arrived in Silicon Valley in 2006, it was very much a boys club. She felt like an outlier.
“Blonde women were on the sales team or were marketers,” Haugen writes. “They did not code — but I did.”
On that note: Sorkin told Business Insider’s Jason Guerrasio that Madison was keen to dye her hair blonde, but he dissuaded her from the idea. (They did, however, agree to give Madison a shorter haircut.)
“I didn’t want her worried about that in the performance,” Sorkin said. “I always worry, like for instance, if I cast a British actor and they need to do an American accent, is that going to be your concern every moment of every day? Are you going to be able to do what I need you to do in terms of getting into the text if all you’re thinking about is the American accent?”
In “The Social Reckoning,” Haugen is shown dealing with dismissive comments from male colleagues, like one who tells her to join a dating app because she would “benefit from loosening up.”
Haugen spent the first eight years of her career working in various positions at Google. She resigned from the company in 2014, largely due to health issues. She was diagnosed with celiac disease and later with non-occlusive temperature-sensitive vasoconstrictive disorder, a rare condition that causes chronic pain and inflammation in cold temperatures.
Haugen was hired by Facebook in 2019 to work on the civic integrity team
After Haugen’s health improved, she worked at other major tech companies, including Yelp and Pinterest, before being recruited by Facebook in 2019.
She has said she agreed to work at Facebook on the condition that her role would be in detecting and combating misinformation on the platform, motivated by a former friend who’d become obsessed with conspiracy theories.
“It’s one thing to study misinformation, it’s another to lose someone to it,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “A lot of people who work on these products only see the positive side of things.”
Haugen was assigned to monitor Facebook’s impact on international elections and protect against election interference, and later said she was shocked by the “horrifying magnitude of the danger that we were facing.” Haugen said her breaking point was when the civic integrity team was dissolved in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, and she quit in May 2021 — but not before secretly copying about 22,000 internal documents, many of which she shared with Horwitz and federal law enforcement. (At the time, Facebook said the civic integrity team wasn’t dissolved, but “integrated into a larger Central Integrity team.”)
Haugen, then 37, sought federal whistleblower protection with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
She then publicly revealed her identity during a “60 Minutes” interview with Scott Pelley.
“When they got rid of civic integrity, it was the moment where I was like, I don’t trust that they’re willing to actually invest what needs to be invested to keep Facebook from being dangerous,” Haugen told Pelley.
Haugen said the root of Facebook’s problems is how it optimizes for engagement: Posts that contain divisive language and misinformation are more likely to elicit likes, comments, and shares, so the algorithm amplifies them.
“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they’ll click on less ads,” she said. “Facebook makes more money when you consume more content.”
Haugen added that, in her view, Facebook routinely prioritizes “profit over safety.”
The documents obtained by Haugen included a range of internal reports and studies showing, in part, that Facebook’s algorithm had encouraged political parties around the world to embrace extremist ideas; that drug traffickers and human traffickers openly used Facebook’s services; and that Instagram, acquired by Facebook in 2012, increased rates of depression and eating disorders among its users, especially teenage girls, more so than other social media apps.
In her opening remarks, Haugen said that Facebook is used to “deepen divides, destabilize democracies, and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies.”
Haugen also stressed the need for government regulation, telling the lawmakers, “There is no one currently holding Mark accountable but himself.”
“When we realized tobacco companies were hiding the harms it caused, the government took action. When we figured out cars were safer with seat belts, the government took action. And today, the government is taking action against companies that hid evidence on opioids,” she said in her written testimony. “I implore you to do the same here.”
Haugen’s testimony received bipartisan support, and Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, called Haugen “A 21st-century American hero.”
The following year, Haugen said in an interview with Bloomberg that Meta likely wouldn’t improve unless Zuckerberg stepped down.
“No one but Mark Zuckerberg can control Facebook right now,” she said. “I don’t think the company can recover as long as he is the leader of it.”
Four years later, Zuckerberg continues to act as chairman and CEO of Meta. The company recently launched a bespoke AI chatbot called Muse.
Haugen has continued to criticize social media algorithms and the tech titans who oversee them, including Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter, now X, in 2022.
In March 2026, Haugen spoke to NPR’s “Here & Now Anytime” about the landmark social media addiction trial, which found both Meta and Google liable for harming young users’ mental health. Meta was ordered to pay $4.2 million in damages to the 20-year-old plaintiff, while Google’s subsidiary YouTube was ordered to pay $1.8 million.
“What the jury decided was that Facebook knew their algorithms would preferentially push people toward more extreme topics. It doesn’t have to be that way, but it does make you consume the products more,” Haugen said. “So unless we have consequences like this, they’re not going to give us the best of social media.”
Haugen was also a key source for Sorkin while he was writing “The Social Reckoning,” acting as a consultant, though she was not directly involved in the film’s script or production.
“We screened it for her just a couple of weeks ago,” Sorkin told Vanity Fair in September. “That was a scary two hours for me. Fortunately, she really loved it.”
Haugen now lives in Puerto Rico with her husband, Alex Newman, an entrepreneur and cofounder of the security software HCaptcha, and their 1-year-old daughter. She told Elle in August that she lives a slower, more relaxed life than her whistleblowing mythology might imply.
“You can believe whatever you want about me,” she said. “I have a very happy life, I have a very cute baby, and I get to live by the ocean.”
After spending most of my life in Ottawa, I moved to Japan expecting to head home after one year.
Living abroad showed me how much I value spontaneity, travel, and a life that feels like my own.
Now, I’m heading back to Canada with a different perspective on what I want from my future.
I was born and raised in Ottawa, and aside from a handful of vacations abroad and summer road trips to nearby Canadian cities, it’s where I spent almost all of my time.
Most of my family lives there, and the relatives who don’t are only a few hours away. Growing up, the path modeled to me was pretty straightforward: Stay close to home, take vacations when you can, and build your life nearby.
As I got older, though, I felt a growing need to see what else was out there. I was also feeling the pressure of rising costs in Canada, and my apartment lease was ending, so the timing felt right for a change.
I’d visited Japan a couple of years earlier and loved it, so when I found out about the yearlong Working Holiday Visa program, it felt like the perfect fit. I assumed that once the year was up, I’d just come back home and sign another lease nearby.
However, after my first night out in Tokyo, I was already looking into how I could stay away longer.
Living in Japan has been better than I ever imagined
I’ve missed Canada at times, but Japan has felt like home in a way I didn’t expect.
Alessa Hickman
For most of my life, I’ve craved adventure. I grew up hiking, taking little road trips with my mom, and looking for any excuse to get out of the city for a day. I’ve always loved novelty, and living in Japan has given me so much of it.
Since moving here, I’ve lived in multiple places, including Tokyo and Osaka. I’ve traveled to over a dozen more cities and towns, tried countless new restaurants, and met people from all over the world. It feels like there’s constantly something new to see or explore.
The train system here makes it so easy to lean into that spontaneous side of myself. I love being able to visit a new city on a whim, whereas in Ottawa, doing the same thing would usually require a little more planning and a lot more money.
The more I’ve experienced this kind of lifestyle, the harder it is to imagine giving it up. I don’t necessarily want to spend my life in one place just because it’s where I’m from, and now, I know a future filled with new places and experiences is available to me.
I’m going home, but I’m not done exploring
Now, I know I want to see more of the world.
Alessa Hickman
Going back to Canada isthe next logical, short-term step for me. My visa’scoming to an end, and making a permanent move abroad would take a lot more planning and paperwork.
This doesn’t mean I’m done exploring the rest of the world, though. After I leave Japan in a couple of months, I’m planning to spend some time in Southeast Asia — and if I can, I might squeeze in a couple more stops on my way home.
Once I’m back in Canada, I’m sure I’ll jump into planning another trip, or maybe I’ll start looking into another yearlong visa. I can see myself living abroad again, or at least spending more time traveling internationally, whether that’s in Japan or somewhere completely new.
For now, though, I don’t plan to settle back into life in Ottawa the way I once thought I would. While I’m in this up-in-the-air phase, I’d love to move (or drive!) across Canada and see where life takes me from there.
I’m looking forward to exploring more of my home country. Since moving to Japan, I feel like I’ve changed, too — and I’ve reflected on how little of Canada I’ve actually seen. I’m excited to experience my home with a new perspective.
I’m still in my 20s, so I feel lucky to have the freedom to keep figuring things out as I go. And living in Japan didn’t give me all the answers, either. If anything, it gave me more questions.
As I head home, I’m taking everything I’ve learned and felt this year in Japan with me — and I’m so excited to see where I’ll go next.
