Fifth Place Winner of Constantine Cannon’s Whistleblower Essay Contest: Chana Deitsch

The Constantine Cannon whistleblower team is pleased to share with you the Fifth-Place Winner of the firm’s Third Law School Scholarship Essay Contest on the importance of whistleblowers. That award (and the $250 prize) goes to Chana Deitsch, a first-year student at Fordham University Law School.

In her essay, Chana details her journey from a passion for writing to a growing concern for the harmful effects of social media, inspired by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to Chana, “Frances Haugen allowed me to see that change within the technology industry was possible, that turning a blind eye to these digital harms is not an option.” She hopes to use a law degree to follow Haugen’s courageous example, “advancing the goals of the whistleblower” and “restoring justice to industries that evade necessary regulation, and ensure that people are prioritized over profit.”

We applaud Chana for this noble pursuit. And we congratulate Chana for her Fifth-Place finish in this year’s contest, which had scores of entries from dozens of law schools across the country. Please read Chana’s essay below.

We will be posting the remaining winning essays over the next two weeks. And please check back with us soon as we launch our next Scholarship Essay Contest in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you’re not already a subscriber to our weekly newsletter, please sign up today so you stay up to date on the latest whistleblower and fraud news and developments.

Chana Deitsch

Fifth-Place Essay on Importance of Whistleblowers 

By Chana Deitsch

I sat in the corner of the schoolyard, a little girl with a notebook and a pen. Oblivious to the chaos of a third-grade class during recess, I am occupied by my thoughts, entrenched in an imagined world that is asking to be brought into existence. I have always loved to write. I was often found scribbling down character names for the book I envisioned publishing one day, attempting to get the swirling multitude of ideas onto paper. It was writing that taught me that creation often demands introspection, that there is immense value in allowing your mind to wander.

A few years older, I held a gift box in my hands: my first smartphone. The glowing screen offered a new world to explore, and the chance to connect with people and their stories felt like an exhilarating journey beyond the confines of my notebook. As I navigated the colorful and unfamiliar features of the new digital landscape, I gravitated to the social networking platforms. The ever-curious storyteller in me was enamored by an interface through which I could share of myself and take part in others’ narratives.

My introduction to digital platforms, however, soon became a demanding full-time relationship. I noticed that reaching for my phone had become a compulsive habit. The beloved empty space that used to encourage my mind to wander was squashed, now filled with endless feeds of content. My accomplishments, popularity, and appearance no longer felt adequate when held against others’ filtered lives. I was drowning, so overwhelmed by other people’s narratives that they were infiltrating my own.

I was not alone in my newfound dependency on my screen. I watched others fall prey to their smartphone’s allure as well, noting the unfamiliar quiet that settled over my house with my siblings tucked away with their devices in their rooms. This change hit me the hardest, the loss of liveliness in my home prompting me to rewind and search for a cause. I began to ask questions, wondering whether users’ welfare was duly considered during a digital product’s conception. Exploring the societal implications of social media soon grew into a passion, and I became determined to build a career around it. In my first year of college, I secured my first research internship. I read hungrily, dissecting articles and scrutinizing hundreds of studies. My work as a research intern felt like taking back the reins, and it was empowering to gain an intimate understanding of the process through which I lost control to the hypnotic device.

I challenged myself to conduct my own research, delving into the intricacies of social media’s harms. I learned that social media companies were prioritizing engagement driven profit over users’ welfare, a practice that was having large-scale ripple effects on mental health, relationships, productivity, and politics. As my passion piqued, I came across the name Frances Haugen. Frances was a Meta employee who sacrificed her job and privacy to expose the company’s disregard for safety in their platform’s design. She spoke of algorithms and features being programmed to harm rather than help, describing the insatiable monetary goals pervading the industry. As I worked, Frances’s voice seemed to echo in my mind, her image asking me to do more for this cause. Scanning the pages of my dissertation, I could not help but wonder, “Was research enough?”

I needed to push myself beyond research, to change more than just the reader’s mind. I began working at the Social Media Victims Law Center, a firm that specializes exclusively in cases involving harm caused by social media platforms. I realized that while research allowed me to compel people to see the problem, the law could compel the solution Frances implied was needed. Interacting with clients coping with the worst of technology’s effects only strengthened my desire to create a safer digital world, solidifying my conviction that a legal education was the ideal next step towards that change.

By blowing the whistle, Frances Haugen allowed me to see that change within the technology industry was possible, that turning a blind eye to these digital harms is not an option. Bolstered by example, I plan to harness the power of impact litigation to hold social media companies accountable, shifting the legal landscape to one that can protect consumers in the digital age. I hope to spend my career advancing the goals of the whistleblower, advocating for the unheard user, restoring justice to industries that evade necessary regulation, and ensure that people are prioritized over profit.