.png)
Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival champions all whistleblowers, no matter the cause, method, and culture. WSFF supports those brave men and women who face hard odds to unveil unique hard truths. A few made international headlines, while others were kept within regional boundaries. Many made actions which drastically affected the fabric of our society, and some created changes deep inside their communities.
In any case, these whistleblowers made positive differences, and that’s why we salute them.
Starting in 2020, major tech corporations were put under the spotlight due to workplace allegations of varying degrees. In that year, Social Media giant Facebook (now Meta) encountered its first whistleblower case of the decade when former data scientist Sophie Zhang discovered abusive political manipulation in many countries.She argued this manipulation evaded Facebook’s counter-measures against fake users (How Facebook let fake engagement distort global politics: a whistleblower's account). This incident would precede the major 2021 controversy involving Social Media giant Meta (formerly Facebook), when former product manager Frances Haugen blew the lid on vast technical inaccuracies and digital misinformation towards significant social issues on their platforms (The Facebook Files).
Facebook would not be the only tech company to come under fire by whistleblowers in 2021. Apple, Amazon, and Google were each confronted with allegations of employee discrimination, workers’ organization rights and pay, and environmental concerns in that year alone. In Apple, social program manager Ashley Gjøvik reported environmental contamination and faced harassment and retaliation for her efforts (Apple fires senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik for allegedly leaking information); and Janneke Parish was fired for exposing a discriminatory work culture (Tech workers recount the cost of speaking out, as tensions rise inside companies).
Channin Kelly-Rae, a former global manager of diversity at Amazon Web Services, quit her position due to what she alleged as a racial bias, citing particular racial discriminations against African-American workers (Bias, disrespect, and demotions: Black employees say Amazon has a race problem).
Finally, Google’s Timnit Gebru was forced out of the company after refusing to retract a research paper she co-authored about a type of AI software that powers Google’s search engine, which resulted in her being the receiving end of racial and sexist harassment (‘Welcome to the party’: five past tech whistleblowers on the pitfalls of speaking out).
Of course, whistleblowing isn’t restricted to just corporations. They would involve other spectrums such as local law enforcement overseas, and even Olympic sports.
In 2021, Simon Latimer, a New Zealand-based Olympic champion and international representative of springboard and platform diving, wrote a formal complaint to the water sports organization FINA (now World Aquatics). Latimer contended that FINA Vice President Zhou Jihong from China had manipulated judging panels in favor of China, as well as bullying judges during diving events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (Kiwi diving official replaced on FINA committee after blowing the whistle on one of the sport's most powerful figures).
In Australia, Queensland Police Service officer Steven Marshall leaked information via audio recordings about racism, sexual harassment, and human rights abuses against people of color, particularly towards Aboriginal Australians and other people of color in 2022 (Leaked audio reveals Queensland police staff in racist conversations, joking about violence to black people and protesters).
In this current era of whistleblowing, public awareness towards whistleblowers’ efforts is crucial more than ever. It is especially disconcerting to hear about the steady rise of retaliation and persecution towards workplace whistleblowers who only intend to stop unethical or illegal practices that occur in their professional environments. We at WSFF sympathize with whistleblowers, especially those who pay the ultimate price for their actions. More importantly, our organization seeks to empower these individuals through tangible, educational means. Hence, WSFF will always work to promote these whistleblowers and their stories through our film festivals and social awareness events.
Through our campaigns, we seek to enhance the presences of these truth-sayers ranging from the tech world, to law enforcement agencies home and abroad, to even international sporting institutions.
We at WSFF stand by whistleblowers every step of the way. From law enforcement officials to tech workers to everyday people, their contributions do mean something to their worlds, and ultimately, the greater good of all.
For more information about Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival, please visit our website at https://www.whistleblowersummit.com/.
WSFF champions some of the decade’s most notable whistleblowers from all walks of life.
You can help give more power and voice to whistleblowers by supporting the Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival. You will be helping to highlight civil and human rights violations across the globe. Call us at (870) 543-0024 or email us at mccray.michael@gmail.com.
.png)
.png)
