USA TODAY International Edition
At F8, Facebook chief pledges to put ‘people first’
But he also assures crowd that he won’t scale back ambitions
“The hardest decision I made wasn’t to invest in safety and security. The hard part was figuring out how to move forward on everything else we need to do, too.”
Mark Zuckerberg
SAN JOSE, Calif. – Times have changed, and Facebook is changing with them.
That was the message Mark Zuckerberg stepped onto a stage to deliver Tuesday, making a commitment to data privacy and security — not just to the thousands of app developers in attendance but to Facebook’s 2.2 billion users around the globe, some of whom lost faith over the Cambridge Analytica data leak.
“Yes, this is an important moment. We need to do more to keep people safe and we will. And we also need to keep building and bringing people closer together,” Zuckerberg said in closing his keynote address.
It was a critical speech for theFacebook chief, coming off a wave of negativity that hardened doubts about his intentions and left lasting damage to his company’s reputation.
In a tone that was more serious and less triumphant than keynotes of previous years, Zuckerberg told the crowd he has learned from the mistakes that blew up in his face in recent weeks. And he pledged that Facebook would now put “people first” and adapt to evolving consumer expectations for the handling of their private information.
Even before the F8 conference got underway, revelations that 87 million users had their data improperly obtained by Cambridge Analytica, the British political firm with ties to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, continued to haunt Facebook. WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum, a privacy advocate, said Monday that he was leaving Facebook and its board of directors.
Still in damage-control mode, Zuckerberg announced before Tuesday’s keynote that Facebook would make it possible for you to delete information gathered from your activity on other websites and apps.
But this was not just an apology tour. Zuckerberg did not apologize. Instead, he said he has no intention of allowing past problems to hold back Facebook’s ambitions.
“The hardest decision I made wasn’t to invest in safety and security,” Zuckerberg said. “The hard part was figuring out how to move forward on everything else we need to do, too.”
Looking to divert some of the attention being paid to Facebook’s failings, Zuckerberg pointed to the good that has come from this web of digital friendships, from disaster relief to blood donations. And he came alive showing off the cool stuff Facebook is building.
In announcing a new feature, “Watch Party,” in which users gather on Facebook to watch videos, Zuckerberg gave an example — say, watching “your friend testifying before Congress.”
“Let’s not do that again soon,” he quipped.
The Facebook CEO, 33, who sported a blue long-sleeved shirt and dark pants, appeared more relaxed addressing app developers than Congress, energetically skipping from one product announcement to the next while cracking jokes and grinning at shout-outs.
“Judging by the response in the audience, there was a lot of positive sentiment toward what he said. I feel like he struck the right balance between being apologetic, without apologizing, and also refocusing attention on what matters to Facebook,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an eMarketer analyst.
The audience, filled with app developers seemed to grow friendlier.
“If you believe like I do that giving people a voice is important, that building relationships is important, that creating a sense of community is important and doing the hard work of trying to bring the world closer together is important, I say this: We will keep building,” Zuckerberg said.