Why this Facebook scandal is different
In 2018, Facebook faced a massive scandal for allowing the personal data of millions of users to be sold to Cambridge Analytica. After threatening to sue The New York Times and The Guardian over their reporting, Facebook realized it was in trouble. A contrite and apologetic Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress a month later.
“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,“ Zuckerberg said in April 2018.
The company rushed to investigate other instances of data misuse, and shut off data access for some partners and products. A year later, Zuckerberg unveiled his "Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking.”
That’s what it looks like when Facebook acknowledges and takes action as a result of wrongdoing.
Not this time. After weeks of damning revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen and from the thousands of internal documents she shared with the Wall Street Journal and other outlets, Facebook and Zuckerberg are unbowed. Defiant, even.
Facebook’s response has included publicly undermining the work of its own researchers, accusing journalists of misrepresenting the documents, and calling the documents “stolen.”
During an Oct. 25 earnings call, Zuckerberg characterized the reporting as an unfair attack on Facebook. Even more striking, he announced the company’s social networking products will shift to focus on young adult users. It seems the only revelation in the Facebook Files/Papers that resonated with Zuckerberg was internal research showing the company risks losing young people in key markets.
Later that week, Zuckerberg starred in a glossy livestream launch of Facebook’s push into the metaverse. Oh, and the company changed its name!
The new product focus on the metaverse, and on young adults, requires billions of dollars in investment and new hiring. It’s akin to when the company did its famous 2012 push to mobile. Or starting in late 2016 when it kicked off a major investment in product development, partnerships, and hiring to tamp down misinformation and violative behavior on its platform.
In spite of what the Facebook Files/Papers revealed, Zuckerberg isn’t making integrity work a priority. Or acknowledging any of the concerns raised by the whistleblower documents.
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