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for Facebook to Explain Its Privacy Policies’, the authors provide a summary of the
details surrounding the recent events that have brought into question Facebook’s
treatment of user data, and the mounting requests from both the public and government
officials for Facebook to provide insight into the ethical standards of its business
practices.1 The purpose of this article, as I interpret it, is to paint a clear picture of how
serious a situation Facebook has found itself in. The authors cite that Facebook will be
subjected to a pending Federal Trade Commission investigation, calls from Senators for
Mark Zuckerberg to testify before Congress, and requests from more than 37 attorneys
general for Facebook to divulge details about their privacy safeguards when it comes to
Facebook was thrust back into the spotlight following a possible scandal that was
third party firm from the United Kingdom called Cambridge Analytica to obtain personal
data on more than 50 million Facebook users. This data was allegedly utilized in the
2016 election to give Trump the advantage, but proof of this has yet to be determined.
Facebook had violated a 2011 consent decree with the intentional or unintentional
sharing of user information with Cambridge Analytica. Generally speaking, this consent
decree was established to protect Facebook user privacy, but it also set a penalty of
$40,000 per user per day for each violation of the decree. Therefore, if the F.T.C. finds
that Facebook was in violation of the decree with its Cambridge Analytica dealings then
the penalties would not be insignificant (50 million users X $40,000 per day). This news
did not sit well with investors and the stock began a sharp decline, steadily falling ever
since.
The article goes on to mention that Facebook’s involvement with Cambridge Analytica is
not the only hot water the social media behemoth has gotten itself into recently. The
company is currently involved in two lawsuits in the United States Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Neither of these lawsuits are working in Facebook’s
favor. One is an accusation that they are in violation of the Electronic Communications
Privacy Act since it is alleged that the company monitors its users’ activities on and
offline. The second lawsuit alleges that Facebook collects and then sells data that was
collected on third party sites, such as The American Cancer Society. Essentially any
site with a certain type of Facebook “Like” button could be enabling Facebook to track
the visitors to these sites, collect their data, and then sell these data for a profit. In
addition to domestic lawsuits, Facebook has also been under heightened scrutiny and
has been brought on charges repeatedly for several years by European countries,
where the governments are much less lenient on privacy infractions and the misuse of
user data.
There is some pushback from the public about Facebook’s misgivings. The authors
mention the #deletefacebook movement and the fact that Elon Musk recently deleted
the Facebook accounts for both SpaceX and Tesla. However, Facebook is not the only
tech company that is facing hard times from a P.R. perspective. Companies such as
Google, Amazon, Twitter, and etc. are also in the government’s crosshairs. With
sweeping and severe privacy regulation going into effect in the E.U. in May (G.D.P.R.)
we will see how it impacts the behavior of these tech giants. These are global
companies after all. They can no longer hide behind the veil of lax U.S. law. Global
regulations like the one being enacted in the E.U. will affect these companies, and in
turn affect how their business practices are carried out here in the United States.
1 Hsu, Tiffany, and Cecilia Kang. "Demands Grow for Facebook to Explain Its Privacy
2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/technology/ftc-facebook-investigation-
April 4, 2018).
Thought Questions
1.) Knowing that Facebook has, at least once, intentionally or unintentionally leaked
private information on more than 50 million users to a third party company, are you
concerned with what Facebook and other companies like it do with your data? If so, has
this changed the way in which you use platforms such as Facebook?
2.) Why do you believe that we as users of the internet and internet platforms such as
Facebook are entitled to privacy when it comes to our data? If you do not believe that