Mark Zuckerberg vs Capital Hill
After 48 hours of grilling and drilling, Mark Zuckerberg surprisingly held his own. It was very evident that his lawyers prepared him very well for this testimony. Despite the attacks, Mark kept cool, answered some questions purposely incomplete and avoided answering purposely to some questions.
Some of the overall highlights of the testimony were:
- Whether a bureau of privacy is needed to oversee privacy issues.
- The complexity of the user agreement and how it should be simplified.
- The first time ever Mark Zuckerberg said the content on Facebook is Facebook's responsibility.
- Avoided the question around Facebook tracking users outside of the Facebook platform.
- Mark Zuckerberg said some regulation is needed...but Facebook could weather the storm, while start-ups would be severely hindered.
Did Facebook deceive its users?
Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, zeroed in on whether Facebook deceived consumers. She pressed Mr. Zuckerberg on whether the company made a decision not to inform users about the Cambridge Analytica episode when they learned in 2015 that data was sold by a researcher to the political consulting firm. “I’m talking about notification of users. And this relates to the issue of transparency and the issue of trust: informing users of what you know in terms of how their personal information was misused,” Ms. Harris said. Mr. Zuckerberg did not admit that the company explicitly decided to withhold that information from consumers, but he said the company made a mistake in not informing users.
The question was key to the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation of Facebook’s violation of a 2011 consent decree. If the company withheld information, which would be a deceptive act, the company could face record fines for violating its promises to the agency. The tough questions by Ms. Harris, were closely watched because she is from the San Francisco Bay Area and is seen as a rising political star within the Democratic Party.
Will regulation of Facebook be coming?
Mr. Thune, the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, called Facebook and its role in society “extraordinary” and began the hearing by explaining why Facebook is being singled out and why Mr. Zuckerberg was asked to appear alone. He said the Cambridge Analytica situation underscored how Facebook can be used for nefarious reasons, saying it appeared “to be the result of people exploiting the tools you created to manipulate users’ information.”
In an indication that he may support legislation for internet companies, Mr. Thune said, “In the past, many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have been willing to defer to tech companies’ efforts to regulate themselves. But this may be changing.” Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said the tech industry “has a responsibility” to protect its users and said “the status quo no longer works.”
Regulating the use of private data
Representative Greg Walden, Republican of Oregon and chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, kicked off the hearing by declaring that “while Facebook has certainly grown, I worry it has not matured.” Mr. Walden floated the prospect of regulation, saying that “I think it is time to ask whether Facebook may have moved too fast and broken too many things.” Later in the hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg said regulation was “inevitable.” But he repeated that the right kind of regulation mattered and he pointed out that some regulation could only solidify the power of a large company like Facebook, which could hurt start-ups.
Some 56% of Americans said they trusted Facebook least with their personal information out of all major tech companies, according to a joint SurveyMonkey/Recode poll. Respondents were asked to choose among Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Lyft, Microsoft, Netflix, Tesla, Twitter, Snap and Uber. Twenty percent selected none of the above.
Regardless how people feel, investors gave Mark Zuckerberg an A Grade...the stock surged almost 10% in 2 days. But will investors be happy long term with Facebook if they are regulated? Are we at the beginnings of a great migration to the SteemIt platform? Only time will tell.
I'm calling BS!!!
Lol...Users..plain janes and celebrities are deleting their facebook accounts....the bleeding has already began...should be an interesting 6-12 months.