Zuckerberg doesn’t have much to say on data giveaway
As Facebook deals with another big crisis — the news that an advertising and political consulting firm used by President Trump’s campaign accessed the personal data of possibly 50 million of the social network’s users without their permission — here are key things we’re watching.
Where are Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg?
The chief executive officer and chief operating officer of Facebook haven’t said a public word about the Cambridge Analytica news since it broke over the weekend. Zuckerberg and Sandberg usually weigh in with a Facebook post about such crises, and there are growing calls from lawmakers for Zuckerberg — not the company’s lawyers — to explain the social networking giant’s data and privacy practices.
In addition, Facebook shares continue to tank. After losing $40 billion in market value Monday, the Menlo Park company’s shares fell more than 2.5 percent Tuesday.
Instead, we’ve heard from Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal, who on Friday announced that Facebook had suspended the accounts of Cambridge Analytica, plus a former worker for the data firm and the researcher/ Cambridge University professor who created an app and sold that app’s user data to Cambridge Analytica.
We’ve also heard from Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos, who looks to have one foot out the door. Stamos, who is said to have clashed with Sandberg and others over the way the company has responded to its role in helping spread Russianlinked disinformation surrounding the U.S. presidential election, is planning to leave the company in August, the New York Times reports. However, Stamos tweeted Monday that he remains “engaged” with his work.
Over the weekend, Stamos de-
leted his tweets about how the Cambridge Analytica mess is not a data breach because the data were collected in accordance with Facebook’s policies at the time.
A Facebook spokeswoman said Tuesday Stamos continues to be CSO.
“He has held this position for nearly three years and leads our security efforts especially around emerging security risks,” a Facebook spokeswoman said Tuesday. “He is a valued member of the team and we are grateful for all he does each and every day.”
Finally, Vice President Andrew Bosworth said in a Facebook post Monday that while the data leak was not a breach, it was “a breach of trust.” Facebook says the professor claimed he was using the data for research purposes, but Aleksandr Kogan told CNN the company did not object when he updated the personality-prediction app’s terms to disclose that he would be selling and licensing the data.
Facebook’s spokeswoman would not comment about whether Zuckerberg or Sandberg plan to address this issue soon. The Daily Beast reported that neither one was present at an employee meeting Tuesday.
Are there other data leaks, and could they happen again?
A former Facebook employee tells the Guardian that other third-party developers exploited the same terms that the researcher who passed on user data to Cambridge Analytica did, and therefore hundreds of millions of Facebook users may have been affected.
Sandy Parakilas, the platform operations manager at Facebook responsible for policing data breaches by thirdparty software developers between 2011 and 2012, told the newspaper that Facebook did not conduct audits of third-party developers while he was there.
The app of Kogan, the researcher, had about 270,000 users, the New York Times and the Guardian reported. But at the time, Facebook’s terms allowed developers to ask their apps’ users for access to their Facebook friends’ data as well, so Cambridge Analytica reportedly was handed data of 50 million users. Facebook says the Friends Permission feature is no longer in effect.
Kogan, by the way, reportedly accepted Russian government grants for research into social media. The Observer reports that he once held a talk titled “New methods of communication as an effective political instrument.”
When asked for comment about Parakilas’ claims, the Facebook spokeswoman referred to a November 2017 blog post by Justin Osofsky, vice president of global operations. He said then that “we enforce our policies by banning developers from our platform, pursuing litigation to ensure any improperly collected data is deleted, and working with developers who want to make sure their apps follow the rules.”
Who wants what from Facebook?
Officials and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean want answers. Some of them are calling for regulation.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook violated the terms of a 2011 privacy settlement between the company and the agency, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. Under the deal, Facebook is supposed to get user permission when privacy settings change, and is subject to a fine of thousands of dollars a day for every violation.
Meanwhile, a couple of senators want Zuckerberg to testify at a Judiciary Committee hearing they have asked Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to call.
“Facebook, Google, and Twitter have amassed unprecedented amounts of personal data and use this data when selling advertising, including political advertisements,” said Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, and John Kennedy, RLousiana, in a joint statement Monday. “The lack of oversight on how data is stored and how political advertisements are sold raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights.”
Also, Sen. John Thune, RSouth Dakota, who’s chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, on Monday sent a letter addressed to Zuckerberg, asking for a written response to five questions by March 29. The letter was also signed by Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi and Jerry Moran, RKansas.
Among their questions are exactly what kind of user data were accessed by Cambridge Analytica, and whether Facebook knows of any similar data leaks by third-party apps.
Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has sent a letter to Facebook seeking answers, and Massachusetts AG Maura Healey said her office is investigating the matter.
In the United Kingdom, authorities are seeking a warrant to inspect Cambridge Analytica’s offices in London, according to the BBC.
Earlier Tuesday, the chairman of the U.K. parliamentary media committee, Damian Collins, said his group has repeatedly asked Facebook how it uses data. The committee has summoned Facebook’s Zuckerberg to testify.
“It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process,” Collins wrote Zuckerberg, according to an Associated Press report. “Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to ‘fixing’ Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.”
Also, Chief Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is investigating Cambridge Analytica, and she reportedly asked Facebook to delay its own investigation into Cambridge’s offices. Facebook is said to have complied.
Cambridge Analytica is partly owned by big GOP donor Robert Mercer, and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was a vice president at the firm.
While there are questions about the effectiveness of Cambridge’s data, Vox reports that the Trump campaign was able to use real-time data from Cambridge, combined with other tools available to the campaign, to decide where the presidential candidate should travel.
“When you consider how a few thousands votes in a handful of swing states determined the election, this is no small thing,” Vox pointed out.