British Parliament would like to see Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and it’s not to grant him honorary citizenship.
The U.K.’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee has asked the chief exec on Tuesday to testify in front of Parliament on how the social network protects its mountain of user data. Damian Collins, the chairman of the committee, was spurred on by the revelation 50 million users had their information unknowingly harvested by data firm Cambridge Analytica.
“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,” wrote Collins in his written request to Zuckerberg. “There is a strong public interest test regarding user protection,” he added.
The fallout from Cambridge Analytica calls into question how Facebook handles access to its data — and what can be done to stop unwanted third parties from paying for it. University of Cambridge Professor Aleksandr Kogan built an app downloaded by 270,000 people, but because he had access to their “likes” and “friends” information, he was able to sell 50 million personality profiles to Cambridge Analytica ahead of the 2014 U.S. midterm elections.
Facebook eventually banned app developers from pulling “friends” information in 2015. The issue, however, is Kogan violated its terms of service by selling his data to a third party, something which carries little repercussions.
Collins referenced Zuckerberg’s 2018 goal of “protecting our community” when wrapping up his request for a Facebook rep to visit the Palace of Westminster.
“Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to ‘fixing’ Facebook, I hope that this representative is you,” said Collins.
Zuckerberg, as of Tuesday morning, has not spoken on the issue.
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.