New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS): Facebook's parent company Meta has allowed the Kazakhstan government direct access to its content reporting system, as the social network faces larger scrutiny after revelations by whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Kazakhstan is the first country in Central Asia to have access to the system and already be onboarded for the direct channel to contact Facebook's global operation teams.

"W are delighted to provide the 'Content Reporting System' to the Government of Kazakhstan, which we hope can help the government to deal with harmful content in a more efficient and effective manner," said Facebook's Regional Public Policy Director, George Chen.

In a statement, the government expressed confidence that the use of the "Content Reporting System" will increase the efficiency and overall effectiveness of the work carried out to counter the spread of illegal content on the Facebook and Instagram platforms.

Facebook continues to battle serious allegations led by whistleblower Haugen and others over users' data privacy and presence of misinformation on its platforms.

Haugen, a former product manager in Facebook's civic integrity group, has testified before the US Congress about a trove of internal documents she gave to The Wall Street Journal.

One of her main arguments was that Facebook's business of selling ads based on engagement leads it to keep users on the service at all costs, even when it knows that the content they are engaging with is harmful.

A former member of Facebook's Integrity team has also alleged that "the company prizes growth and profits over combating hate speech, misinformation and other threats to the public", The Washington Post reported.

According to a copy of the affidavit obtained by The Post, the allegations echoed many of those made by the first whistleblower Haugen.