Founder of Facebook defends himself
Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg failed to address concerns of millions of Indian users who are still in
the dark about how their data was misused and by whom. This is despite the fact that India has overtaken the US to become
Facebook’s largest market with nearly 250 million users. For millions of
Indians, the discovery of Internet itself happens through Facebook.
For far too long, some US companies that run their business over the
Internet in India have escaped local laws stating that since their physical
infrastructure does not exist in this country they are answerable only to US
lawmakers. After the Facebook
data breach came to light, the Minister for Electronics and IT, very
emphatically claimed that he would summon Zuckerberg to India. There was no clarity on whether data from
Indian user accounts have been compromised or misused, accessed for what purpose
and whether there are other third party applications on Facebook that have been
doing the same. The company did spell out its strategy to ensure that a similar
data breach does not happen in the future. But Indian users deserve more than
that.
It is high time that the Centre conveys a clear message to Facebook that
Indians matter. It should hold
a public hearing with Facebook’s leadership team and ask tough questions on its
business model and data protection rules. Transparency and accountability will have to become the basis for
Facebook to rebuild trust with its users
Zuckerberg resisted effort by US Senators to commit him to regulation. During
nearly five hours of questioning by 44 US senators, Zuckerberg repeatedly
apologised for a range of problems that have beset Facebook, from a lack of
data protection to Russian agents using Facebook to influence US elections.
Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, from Facebook's home state of
California, “Mark Zuckerberg's
failure to answer several critical questions during his appearance before the
Senate today leaves me concerned about how much Facebook values trust and
transparency,” she wrote on Twitter.
Facebook disclosed in September that Russians under fake names used the
social network to try to influence U.S. voters in the months before and after
the 2016 election, writing about inflammatory subjects, setting up events and
buying ads.
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to the US Congress and
accepts responsibility over the Cambridge Analytica scandal for “not doing
enough” to protect its users’ personal data being misused. Zuckerberg accepts
responsibility for the social network’s failure to protect private data of its
87 million users and prevent manipulation of the platform. He said, “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our
responsibility, and that was a big mistake.”
“It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from
being used for harm as well. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in
elections, and hate speech,” Zuckerberg further said.
Zuckerberg, 33, is facing the worst crisis of business, amid a firestorm over the hijacking of data
on millions of Facebook users by the British political consulting firm
Cambridge Analytica. Zuckerberg admitted he was too idealistic and failed to
grasp how the platform, used by two billion people, could be abused and
manipulated.
In his written remarks, Zuckerberg said it’s not enough to just connect
people. “We have to make sure those connections are positive. It’s not enough
to just give people a voice, we have to make sure people aren’t using it to
hurt people or spread misinformation. It’s not enough to give people control of
their information, we have to make sure developers they’ve given it to are
protecting it too,” he said.
“Across the board, we have a responsibility to not just build tools, but
to make sure those tools are used for good. It will take some time to work
through all of the changes we need to make, but I’m committed to getting it
right,” the Facebook CEO said.
Zuckerberg said his top priority has always been his social mission of
connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together.
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