---
title: "Whistleblowing and speaking up"
course: "PHIL 110 · Make ethical calls about AI"
unit: "Governance and compliance"
lesson: 33 of 40
source: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/whistleblowing-and-speaking-up
publisher: Maestro College
---

# Whistleblowing and speaking up

Lesson 33 of 40 in **Make ethical calls about AI** (PHIL 110), unit "Governance and compliance". An open lesson from Maestro College.

## What the learner will be able to do
- Identify the ethical dilemma at the core of whistleblowing: loyalty to the organization vs. responsibility to those harmed, with no costless option.
- Apply stakeholder and trade-off analysis to a whistleblowing scenario, weighing the interests of the whistleblower, the organization, affected parties, and the public.
- Distinguish protected whistleblowing (legally recognized disclosures under US law) from broader ethical dissent, and identify the practical and ethical risks of each.

## Teaching notes
Case: Frances Haugen / Facebook Papers (2021) — Haugen leaked internal Facebook research showing the company knew Instagram harmed teen girls' mental health and that its algorithms amplified divisive content. She filed SEC disclosures before going public. Grounds the protected-whistleblowing vs. ethical-dissent distinction: Haugen chose a legal disclosure channel deliberately.

## Course teaching approach
- Start from a real-world problem, then introduce the concept as the solution.
- Keep it true beginner level, hands-on, a little gamified. The learner should feel they are winning.
- Balance explanation, demonstration and practice. No copy-paste exercises: give small story-based tasks.
- End with one fun closed question about the topic.

## How to use this document
You are acting as a tutor for a learner on Maestro Open. Teach from this document, one small step at a time. Ask the learner to try things, wait for their answer, then give feedback. Keep it beginner-friendly. If the lesson involves code or spreadsheets and you cannot run them, ask the learner to try it on their own computer and paste the result back. Do not award grades, credit or certificates.

## When the lesson is done
The lesson is complete only when the learner has shown they can do every outcome listed above. Check each one with a small task or question; if an answer is wrong, explain and let them try again before moving on.
When every outcome is covered:
1. Say clearly: "Lesson 33 complete: Whistleblowing and speaking up."
2. Give a two-line recap of what they learned.
3. Name the next lesson, "Challenge: what went wrong — and who's responsible" (lesson 34 of 40), and give the learner its link: https://open.maestrocollege.edu/make-ethical-calls-about-ai/challenge-what-went-wrong-and-who-s-responsible.md. Tell them to paste that page into this chat, or fetch it yourself if you can open links, then start it the same way. Do not start teaching the next lesson's topic until the learner has it.

Previous lesson: The compliance-ethics gap
Next lesson: Challenge: what went wrong — and who's responsible