Zuckerberg faces day of reckoning as Congress threatens Facebook with regulation - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14904994
The Guardian

David Smith in Washington

@smithinamerica
Tue 10 Apr 2018 21.04 BST


  • Senators express deep concern over mishandling of users’ data
  • CEO promises to conduct a ‘full investigation’ into every app that has access to users’ data

[center-img]https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0ecedcaea935aef43100f89210a4f9b423c52f33/0_117_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?w=620&q=55&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&s=59bf6a04ca6c653d9ea96f4d37516ce1[/center-img]

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, was being grilled by the US Senate on Tuesday in what is widely seen as a moment of reckoning for America’s tech industry.

Looking pale and tense, the 33-year-old billionaire, who has enjoyed a career of unalloyed success, sat humbled and silent as senator after senator expressed deep concerns about the company’s mishandling of users’ personal information.

“Let me just cut to the chase,” said Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, before Zuckerberg started giving evidence. “If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy any more. If Facebook and other online companies will not or cannot fix the privacy invasions, then we are going to have to. We, the Congress.”

Senator John Thune, a Republican and the chairman of the Senate commerce committee, noted that Facebook’s business model offers free service in exchange for personal data. “For this model to persist, both sides of the bargain need to know what’s involved,” he said. “I’m not convinced Facebook’s users have the information they need to make decisions.”

He told Zuckerberg that to many he embodies the American dream, but that could become “a privacy nightmare for the scores of people who used Facebook”.

In a calm and steady voice, Zuckerberg read from a prepared statement first released on Monday. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” he said. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”

Then, under questioning, he promised that Facebook is conducting a “full investigation” into every app that has access to users’ information, numbering tens of thousands. “If we find they’re doing anything improper, we’ll ban them from Facebook,” he said.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook should not have trusted Cambridge Analytica’s assurance that it would stop using the personal information it harvested. “In retrospect, that was a mistake. We shouldn’t have taken their word for it. We considered that a closed case.”

He said one of his “biggest regrets” in running Facebook was being slow to identify the threat of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. But he also claimed that the company has been more successful in removing “tens of thousands of accounts” set up to target subsequent elections in other countries. “This is an arms race,” he said of Russia.

Facebook has acknowledged that up to 87 million people, mostly in the US, had their personal information harvested from its site by Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm whose clients included Donald Trump’s election campaign. Shares in Facebook are down more than 14% since the revelations and there have been calls for tighter regulation of the industry.

Zuckerberg and Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, have been on a media apology tour since the Cambridge Analytica story broke in the Observer, the Guardian’s sister Sunday newspaper in the UK.

On Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Zuckerberg entered the Senate committee room at 2.29pm, wearing a suit, white shirt and sky blue tie. Senators John Kennedy and Ron Johnson walked over, shook his hand and exchanged words and smiles. Zuckerberg then sat alone at a desk, surrounded by a thick forest of clicking cameras, like a prisoner in the dock. He sipped water from a glass and adjusted his chair nervously. He faced two rows of senators as the hearing got under way.

Zuckerberg was making his first appearance before Congress, at a joint hearing of the US Senate’s commerce and judiciary committees. Facebook hired several outside consultants to help coach Zuckerberg, even holding mock sessions to prepare him for questions.

Before the hearing began, three protesters stood up in the public gallery wearing comical giant spectacles – two pink pairs, one orange pair, with the words “Stop spying” written on their tinted lenses – holding paper signs that included the messages “Protect our privacy codepink” and “Like us on Facebook codepink.” A Capitol police officer warned: “Put the signs down or you’ll be arrested.” The signs were then confiscated by the police.

Members of Congress have discussed legislation that would strengthen data privacy protections and enforcement. Tighter regulation of how Facebook uses its members’ data could affect its ability to attract advertising revenue.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has endorsed proposed legislation requiring social media sites to disclose the identities of buyers of online political campaign ads. Twitter said on Tuesday, that it supports the bill, called the Honest Ads Act.

Zuckerberg visited senators in closed-door meetings on Monday, previewing the public apology he planned to give on Tuesday. He will face a second grilling on Wednesday from the US House energy and commerce committee.

Look at his face, why is Zuckberberg so petrified?


Btw Ted Cruz used Cambridge Analytica for his campaign.
#14905389
I think its bogus. In-Q-Tel bankrolled these guys. Facebook is part of deep state surveillance. They're trying to make it look like they're rattling his cage, because Trump won using the same social media tactics as Obama.

I shut down my FB account the other day.
#14905391
blackjack21 wrote:I think its bogus. In-Q-Tel bankrolled these guys. Facebook is part of deep state surveillance. They're trying to make it look like they're rattling his cage, because Trump won using the same social media tactics as Obama.

I shut down my FB account the other day.


My Facebook account has been inactive since 2015. But I switched to the only marginally better(Because Trump uses it) Twitter.

Also we're are allowed to hold out some hope right? Not all Republicans are part of the deep state. Ted Cruz is more of a well meaning softcore Republican idiot(Proof he's an idiot: Declared his VP before winning nomination) than an establishment stooge.
#14905407
Saeko wrote:Facebook has handled this with a lot more grace than what we normally see from big corporations, which is to deny that anything happened, and if anything did happen, to deny any and all responsibility.


I think that has more to do with Facebook's PR nightmare and their shady ties with US intelligence agencies, Saekokins. FB is so popular and talked about that I think they realized it would make their situation worse with investors and partners to deny the openly unethical and creepy behavior on their part of tracking people and collecting data on users. For US intelligence which pretty obviously continues to use FB to collect data on people without a need for a warrant or any bureaucratic hand wrangling, they don't want people feeling hesitant about using it, or beginning a trend of migrating to other social media platforms.
#14905414
Facebook collects user data and sells it.

Thats all they do.

Thats *ALL* they *EVER* do.

They have no other source of income at all.

So ... why does anybody have a Facebook account ? I have no clue. I never considered getting a Facebook account and I block Facebook in every way I can since years.

Its bad enough I cant block Microsoft or Google. I will certainly not use something that has no functionality I dont absolutely need.

Btw for the same reason I dont use Amazon, eBay, etc.

I also dont play new games since they all depend upon SteamWorks. The only way I would ever tolerate SteamWorks is if I had a computer exclusively for gaming, because then it wouldnt matter. Well technically I could actually afford that. But I dont want to. It would effectively make that PC a console, a computer that can only be used for gaming. I think consoles are a super stupid concept.
#14905461
I think Zuckerberg is smart enough to know he is being used for political gain. All he has to do is agree and ask forgiveness. Very soon, everything will go right back to where it was and everyone will forget about it.
#14905690
Meh. Meh. SUPER-MEH.

So if they would actually shut Facebook down (that would never happen), Zuckerberg would still own how much money ?

Maybe no longer something like 80 billion dollars, but more like only 70 billion or some such. Oh the pain ! On the insufferable suffering !

Now thats a problem almost any person on the planet except for those half douzen or so who are even more rich than him would *love* to have.

Either way, I'm not fussed at all. Facebook will stay. Its much too useful for the NSA and others.
#14905967
I'm really enjoying the Zuckerberg android memes. They are spot on. :lol:

What I'm enjoying less is that many people seem to feel sorry for him because of the grilling. It almost looks like we have an over-abundance of compassion that seeks an outlet, no matter how undeserving the object.
#14906068
Yes there are many good ones, I like the one where he is portrayed as Data. I find it very befitting.
Image

I believe people have sympathy for Zuckerberg because he is young, who seems to have principles and is not an asshole CEO that we are used to seeing. There are however serious allegations against Facebook that I believe most people are not aware off. I myself did not know the extent it is alleged Facebook reaches into our private lives.

Here is good takes PBS does in regards.



If anything Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Senate and Congress will bring awareness to Facebook's breach of faith.

Also it seem Democrats keep searching for their boogeyman of fake-news to blame for the loss in the election. Zackerberg with this becomes their scapegoat.
#14906355
Albert wrote:I believe people have sympathy for Zuckerberg because he is young, who seems to have principles and is not an asshole CEO that we are used to seeing. There are however serious allegations against Facebook that I believe most people are not aware off. I myself did not know the extent it is alleged Facebook reaches into our private lives.

If anything Zuckerberg's testimony in front of Senate and Congress will bring awareness to Facebook's breach of faith.

Also it seem Democrats keep searching for their boogeyman of fake-news to blame for the loss in the election. Zackerberg with this becomes their scapegoat.

The robot-like demeanor can also come across as being terrified, so that might play a role in the sympathy too. Still, the guy has set up Facebook for precisely these purposes and it's been like this for more than a decade, with him defending himself using the same arguments over and over. He should have no credibility whatsoever and deserves zero sympathy.
#14906542
Let’s give a young guy a few billion $$$, a means of controlling world opinion, and then argue whether he was corrupted or not.
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