Zuckerberg Apologises As Facebook Plans Critical Response

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Mark Zuckergerb, CEO, Facebook
Mark Zuckergerb, CEO, Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg has apologised on behalf of Facebook for the role his company played in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“This was a major breach of trust and I’m really sorry this happened,” Zuckerberg said. “Our responsibility now is to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The comments followed an industry-wide uproar about how third-party developers are privy to the data of Facebook users, wherein it was revealed that the personal data of more than 50 million Facebook users was used by a company that specialises in turning the tide of elections.

During an interview last night with CNN, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook did not follow up enough with Cambridge Analytica after learning about the data mining, adding that Facebook had received what appeared to be a formal certification that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the data collected.

This, it appears, was far from the case.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m used to when people legally certify that they are going to do something, that they do it,” said Zuckerberg. “But I think this was clearly a mistake in retrospect.”

Zuckerberg said that he does not think businesses such as Facebook should be excused from regulation, adding that he would love to see ad transparency regulation.

As a means of preventing further data mining of its users, Zuckerberg said that Facebook will impose user data restrictions on app developers and publishers and is willing to conduct audits with thousands of apps that have acquired Facebook user data to date.

In a statement, posted on Facebook last night, Zuckerberg outlined a series of steps Facebook would take to prevent a similar case happening again.

As well as carrying out a “full forensic audit of any suspicious Facebook app, the platform would ban any developer that did not agree to an audit or those that had misused users’ information.

In the future, he pledged Facebook would further restrict developers’ access to data in order to prevent more abuse; remove developers’ access altogether if the user hadn’t used their app in three months; and require developers to get approval from users in order to access their Facebook posts or other information.

Credit: Campaignlive

 

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