Zuckerberg apology fails to calm firestorm

FACEBOOK MUST GO FURTHER TO PROTECT PRIVACY, CRITICS DEMAND

In Brussels, European leaders were sending a strong message as they prepared to push for tougher safeguards on personal data online.

Apublic apology by Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg failed yesterday to quell outrage over the hijacking of personal data from millions of people, as critics demanded the social media giant go much further to protect privacy.

Speaking out for the first time about the harvesting of Facebook user data by a British firm linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Zuckerberg admitted to betraying the trust of its two billion users, and promised to “step up.”

Vowing to stop data leaking to outside developers, and to give users more control over their information, Zuckerberg also said he was ready to testify before Congress, and was not opposed to tougher regulation of internet titans. But with pressure ratcheting up on the 33-year-old CEO over a scandal that has wiped around $46 billion off Facebook’s value, the initial response suggested his promise of self-regulation had failed to convince.

“Frankly I don’t think those changes go far enough,” Britain’s culture and digital minister Matt Hancock told the BBC.

“It shouldn’t be for a company to decide what is the appropriate balance between privacy and innovation and use of data,” he said. “The big tech companies need to abide by the law and we are strengthening the law.”

In Brussels, European leaders were sending the same message as they prepared to push for tougher safeguards on personal data online.

The data scandal erupted at the weekend when a whistleblower revealed that British consultant Cambridge Analytica (CA) had created psychological profiles on 50 million Facebook users via a personality prediction app, developed by a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan. The app was downloaded by 270,000 people, but also scooped up their friends’ data without consent — as was possible under Facebook’s rules at the time.

Facebook says it discovered last week that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted the data as it certified — although the British firm denies wrongdoing.

The US Federal Trade Commission is reportedly investigating Facebook over the data scandal, while Britain’s information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, is seeking to determine whether it did enough to secure its data.

A movement to quit the social network has also gathered momentum.

Criticising Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad for linking British consulting company Cambridge Analytica with India’s opposition Congress, the party yesterday said it was the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party which hired the services of the firm during several state legislative assembly elections.

“The services of the London-based company, Cambridge Analytica, have never been hired by Congress party or party chief Rahul Gandhi. It is BJP itself which used the services of the data mining firm,” Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala told the media.

He termed Prasad’s remarks as a desperate attempt to divert the country’s attention from other issues.

“BJP’s factory of fake news has produced one more fake product today. It appears that fake press conferences, fake agendas and fake spins and fake statements have become the everyday character of BJP,” he added.

On Wednesday, Prasad had alleged that Cambridge Analytica was hired by Congress to handle the party’s 2019 general election campaign.

“Cambridge Analytica is the company that is supposed to have influenced elections in America and Kenya. We want to tell Facebook to stop this. Also Congress should come out openly and explain its link with Cambridge Analytica,” Prasad had said.

Fair polls

India is due to hold a national election in 2019 and several states will elect new assemblies this year and next.

“Abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections,” Prasad said.

“In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California. Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India’s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted.” Facebook said Prasad had raised several important questions and the company appreciates his attention to this matter.

“We will continue to engage with the government on this matter. We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect peoples’ information and will take whatever steps are required that this happens,” the company said in a statement.