Over two days Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress for hours, facing questions about how and why the data of an estimated 87 million users was shared with Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm with reported ties to the Trump campaign.
Before a panel of 44 senators asked him about Facebook’s privacy policies, Russian interference, and other security issues, Zuckerberg used his opening remarks to issue an apology. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” he said. “I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
Throughout the hearing, Zuckerberg reiterated that Facebook understands its responsibility to consumers. Still, he didn’t give specific details around certain aspects of how the company has handled private user information. Here’s what we did learn. We’ll continue to update this post throughout Zuckerberg’s hearing with Congress today.
Zuckerberg admits Facebook didn’t do enough to protect users after finding out about the Cambridge Analytica breach.
Facebook reportedly discovered in 2015 that user data had been sold to Cambridge Analytica. At the hearing, Florida Senator Bill Nelson asked Zuckerberg why the company didn’t do more back then to inform users of a privacy breach.
“When we heard back from Cambridge Analytica that they had told us that they weren’t using the data and deleted it, we considered it a closed case,” Zuckerberg said. “In retrospect, that was clearly a mistake. We shouldn’t have taken their word for it.” Zuckerberg also said the company didn’t inform the Federal Trade Commission about the incident.
The company still isn’t sure exactly how much personal data has been affected by third-party apps.
Iowa senator Chuck Grassley prodded Zuckerberg about how many users have been affected on the platform. “Do you know of any instances where user data was improperly transferred to a third-party in breach of Facebook’s terms?” he asked. “If so, how many times has that happened, and was Facebook only made aware of that transfer by some third party?”
“We believe that we’re going to be investigating many apps, tens of thousands of apps,” Zuckerberg responded. “And if we find any suspicious activity, we’re going to conduct a full audit of those apps to understand how they’re using their data and if they’re doing anything improper. If we find that they’re doing anything improper, we’ll ban them from Facebook and we will tell everyone affected. As for past activity, I don’t have all the examples of apps that we’ve banned here, but if you would like, I can have my team follow up with you after this.”
A paid version of Facebook is something the company has considered but still isn’t a top priority.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said in a recent interview that Facebook has thought about turning to paid models so that users could opt out of sharing their information with advertisers. Zuckerberg confirmed that a paid option is on the table, but suggested that his priority is letting users access Facebook for free.
“I think what Sheryl was saying is in order to not run ads at all, we would need some sort of business model,” he said. “To be clear, we don’t offer an option today for people to pay to not show ads. We think offering people an ad-supported service is the most aligned with our mission of trying to connect everyone in the world, because we want to offer a free service that everyone can afford. That’s the only way we can reach billions of people.”
Facebook may or may not be able to track your Web-browsing activity.
Mississippi senator Roger Wicker asked Zuckerberg about rumors that “Facebook can track users’ Internet browsing activity even after that user has logged off the Facebook platform.” He asked Zuckerberg to confirm whether or not those reports are true, and Zuckerberg seemed to punt the question, saying, “Senator, I want to make sure I get this accurate, so it might be better to have my team follow up.”
When Wicker pushed him again, Zuckerberg’s answer was more revealing: “I know that people use cookies on the Internet and that you can probably correlate activity between sessions. We do that for a number of reasons, including security and including measuring ads to make sure that the ad experiences are the most effective, which of course people can opt out of. But I want to make sure that I’m precise….”
Zuckerberg acknowledges that the Facebook user agreement is problematic.
Many senators focused on Facebook’s lengthy user agreement, and Grassley wondered why Facebook doesn’t disclose all the ways it uses and shares data. Zuckerberg countered that putting together a concise agreement has been a challenge.
“One of the things that—that we’ve struggled with over time is to make something that is as simple as possible so people can understand it, as well as giving them controls in line in the product in the context of when they’re trying to actually use them, taking into account that we don’t expect that most people will want to go through and read a full legal document,” he said.
Senator John Neely Kennedy of Louisiana later told Zuckerberg directly, “Here’s what everybody’s been trying to tell you today, and—and I say this gently. Your user agreement sucks.”
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