A "whistleblower" in the USA is a legal term of art used to describe someone who reports wrong-doing to the government. The conduct being disclosed doesn't necessarily have to be explicitly illegal, but in order to be considered a whistleblower under the law, the information has to be disclosed to the appropriate government agency (i.e., reporting wrong-doing to a private organization or going public in the media wouldn't legally be considered protected whistleblowing).
The OP's article says that Frances Haugen reported Facebook's actions to the SEC, so that may make her a whistleblower legally, but it's not clear if the SEC is the appropriate agency to handle social media regulation. That seems more like something the FTC or the FCC would be responsible for.
A "whistleblower" in the USA is a legal term of art used to describe someone who reports wrong-doing to the government. The conduct being disclosed doesn't necessarily have to be explicitly illegal, but in order to be considered a whistleblower under the law, the information has to be disclosed to the appropriate government agency (i.e., reporting wrong-doing to a private organization or going public in the media wouldn't legally be considered protected whistleblowing).
More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_protection_in_th...
The OP's article says that Frances Haugen reported Facebook's actions to the SEC, so that may make her a whistleblower legally, but it's not clear if the SEC is the appropriate agency to handle social media regulation. That seems more like something the FTC or the FCC would be responsible for.