Frances Haugen, the former Facebook project manager turned whistleblower, appearing before the Senate pleaded with lawmakers to take action as the company makes "disastrous" internal choices that put profits before people.

"I used to work at Facebook. I joined Facebook because I think Facebook has the potential to bring out the best in us. But I'm here today because I believe Facebook's products harm children stoke division and weaken our democracy," she began. "The company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes as they put their astronomical profits before people."

"Congressional action is needed. They won't solve this crisis without your help," she said.

While she said she believes in the potential of Facebook, the company must “do better.”

"Yesterday, we saw Facebook get taken off the internet. I don't know why it went down, but I know that for more than five hours, Facebook wasn't used to deepen divides destabilize democracies and make young girls and women feel bad about their bodies. It also means that millions of small businesses, weren't able to reach potential customers, and countless photos of new babies weren't joyously celebrated by family and friends around the world," she said.

Also introducing herself, Haugen said she’s worked as a product manager at big tech companies since 2006, including Google, Pinterest and Yelp with jobs focused on algorithmic products.

"I understand how complex and nuanced these problems are. However, the choices being made inside of Facebook are disastrous for our children or our public safety, or our privacy and for our democracy. And that is why we must demand Facebook make changes," she said.

Haugen said that the result of putting "profits before people" can evolve beyond "dangerous online talk" and has led to actual violence that harms and even kills people.

"The documents I have provided to Congress prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled the public about its own research reveals about the safety of children, the efficacy of its artificial intelligence systems and its role in spreading divisive and extreme messages," she said.

In a rare show of bipartisanship in a divided Washington, GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the subcommittee's ranking member, echoed Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in bashing Facebook for "turning a blind eye" to harm it's allegedly causing its users, particularly young girls.

Blackburn accused Facebook of trying to minimize the information contained in the documents Haugen turned over, responding to Facebook accusations that Haugen is misrepresenting its data.

"Having seen the data that you've presented and the other studies that Facebook did not publicly share, I feel pretty confident that it is Facebook who has done the misrepresenting," Blackburn said.

"Here is what else we know -- Facebook is not interested in making significant changes to improve kids' safety on their platforms, at least not when that would result in losing eyeballs on posts or decreasing their ad revenues," she continued, saying the platform is threatened by new platforms like Tik Tok.

Blackburn thanked Blumenthal’s team, along with Haugen, as the committee examine whether Facebook is in violation of or evading the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, among exploring other potential regulations. Facebook denies the allegations.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommittee’s chair, said at the opening of Tuesday's hearing that Facebook is facing its "Big Tobacco moment -- a moment of reckoning," and that it's time to hold big tech accountable.

"Facebook knows its products can be addictive and toxic to children. And it's not just that they made money, again, it's that they value their profit more than the pain that they cause the children and their families," Blumenthal said, while whistleblower Frances Haugen nodded along.

“Facebook exploited teens using powerful how algorithms and amplified their insecurities,” Blumenthal said, adding he hopes Haugen can address the question as to whether there is such a thing as a safe algorithm for the social media giant.

Blumenthal, whom Haugen has allegedly showed leaked Facebook documents to, said the company’s “profit was more important than the pain that they caused" and called on CEO Mark Zuckerberg to come before the committee.

“Mark Zuckerberg ought to be looking at himself in the mirror today, and yet, rather than taking responsibility and showing leadership, Mr. Zuckerberg is going sailing," Blumenthal said, in an apparent reference to the billionaire's recent social media posts.

"Facebook appears to have misled the public and investors, and if that's correct, it out to face real penalties as a result of that and misleading and deceptive representation," he said.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has still not publicly commented on whistleblower France Haugen’s claims that the company manipulated its algorithm to incentivize disinformation, hatred and polarization among its users.

Zuckerberg did, however, weigh in on Monday evening following the platform’s six-hour outage, apologizing for the disruption.

Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, has responded to Haugen's claims on behalf of the company while Zuckerberg stays silent and said in a CNN interview on Sunday those making accusations that the company is commissioning research to "deliberately" brush it aside have it "back to front."

"If we didn't want to address those questions, we wouldn't commission the research in the first place," Clegg said.

Also among Haugen’s accusations is that Facebook relaxed safeguards surrounding the 2020 election content after Nov. 3, allowing misinformation to spread and fuel the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Clegg told CNN that blame "lies squarely with the people who inflicted the violence and those who encouraged them, including President Trump."