In 2015, she began work as a data product manager at Yelp to improve search using image recognition, and after a year, moved to Pinterest.[4][2] In 2018, when Facebook recruited Haugen, she expressed interest in a role related to misinformation, and in 2019, she became a product manager in the Facebook civic integrity department.[3] While at Facebook, she decided it was important to become a whistleblower, and left her position at Facebook in May 2021.[12] In the spring of 2021, she contacted John Tye, a founder of the nonprofit law firm Whistleblower Aid, for help, and Tye agreed to represent her and to help protect her anonymity.[13] In the late summer of 2021, she began meeting with members of the United States Congress, including Senator Richard Blumenthal and Senator Marsha Blackburn.[14]