<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/21/18149099/delete-facebook-scandals-2018-cambridge-analytica">https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/21/18149099/delete-facebook-scandals-2018-cambridge-analytica</a></div><div dir="ltr"><p id="gmail-YsJAuU"><a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/12/19/18148136/facebook-privacy-violations-nyt-netflix-spotify-amazon-yahoo">Facebook</a> started 2018 talking about <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/">bringing people together</a>
by showing users more “meaningful posts” from their friends and family.
It’s ending 2018 explaining why it was sharing information about those
friends and families with dozens of companies <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/facebook-privacy.html">without users’ consent</a>. </p>
<p id="eLXwCM">Over the past year, the social network has found itself
at the center of a growing storm over a wide array of issues, ranging
from <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/11/17225518/mark-zuckerberg-testimony-facebook-privacy-settings-sharing">data privacy</a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/25/18016212/russian-meddling-dark-money-influence-2018-midterm-elections-citizens-united">Russian meddling</a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17764698/fake-news-on-facebook-user-rating-system">fake news</a>. The company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have issued <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/10/17220290/mark-zuckerberg-facemash-testimony">multiple apologies</a> for its missteps, and yet the scandals keep coming.</p>
<p id="gmail-18MHRU">Just this week, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/technology/facebook-privacy.html">the New York Times</a>
reported that Facebook had let companies such as Spotify and Netflix
read users’ private messages, and Washington, DC, Attorney General Karl
Racine <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/19/dc-attorney-general-sues-facebook-over-alleged-privacy-violations-cambridge-analytica-scandal/">sued</a> Facebook for letting the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica access data from some 87 million users. </p>
<p id="gmail-p3wZZs">“We have great products here that people love,” Zuckerberg <a href="https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2018/Q3/Q318-earnings-call-transcript.pdf">said</a> in a call discussing Facebook’s quarterly earnings in January. That’s becoming progressively less the case. </p>
<p id="gmail-aIJnN6">It’s not entirely clear yet what Facebook’s complete 2018
story will be, but there is at the very least a pattern: Facebook does
the bad thing, hides the bad thing, and then when the bad thing becomes
public, it says it’s sorry and offers up explanations, only to either
keep doing that bad thing or repeat the cycle related to a different bad
thing.</p>
<p id="gmail-Mt1jsB">That’s all left it unclear as to whether Facebook can, or is willing to, <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/11/15/18096935/new-york-times-facebook-soros-zuckerberg-schumer">fix itself</a>. </p>
<h3 id="gmail-7YxXdS">The start of the year was relatively smooth</h3>
<p id="gmail-mqg475">Facebook had a fairly normal start to the year.</p><p id="gmail-xAzB6o">Its first <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-bringing-people-closer-together/">big announcement</a>
of 2018 was that it would show people more posts from their friends and
families in their News Feed in response to criticism that it was
overprioritizing content from businesses, media, and brands. In a post,
Zuckerberg said he wanted Facebook to be “good for people’s well-being.”
</p>
<p id="gmail-zSzDmC">The company also said it would do better about making sure news was from “<a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/trusted-sources/">trusted sources</a>” and prioritizing <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/news-feed-fyi-local-news/">local news</a> and putting out posts on <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/01/hard-questions-democracy/">social media and democracy</a>. It said it was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/business/news/facebooks-commitment-to-data-protection-and-privacy-in-compliance-with-the-gdpr">getting ready</a> for new privacy rules out of Europe because it “takes data protection and people’s privacy very seriously.”</p>
<p id="gmail-dkYQKX">In February, special counsel Robert Mueller <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/2/16/17020776/russian-indictments-robert-mueller">indicted</a>
13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities, focusing primarily on a
Russian troll farm called the Internet Research Agency, for their
political propaganda efforts in the US, including on social media
platforms such as Facebook. The focus was on the Russian actors, though,
not the platforms they used.</p>
<p id="gmail-dIOe2U">The same month, Wired published a long piece about Facebook’s “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/inside-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-2-years-of-hell/">hellish</a>”
two years, but the tone was that it might turn around. Facebook had
“evolved” and come to realize some of its responsibilities. Facebook,
perhaps, was getting better.</p>
<p id="gmail-DnrkwA">Except it wasn’t.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-J3ZRNO">Then Cambridge Analytica hit</h3>
<p id="gmail-mqg475">On March 16, Facebook made a <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/suspending-cambridge-analytica/">sudden announcement</a>
that it was suspending a relatively obscure political consultancy,
Strategic Communication Laboratories, and its data analytics firm,
Cambridge Analytica, from its platform. On March 17, we found out why: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election">the Guardian</a>
published a pair of blockbuster stories outlining how Cambridge
Analytica had harvested private information from more than 50 million
users without their permission.</p><p id="gmail-5rM9o8">The <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/2/17311892/cambridge-analytica-us-offices-shutting-down-facebook-scandal">now-defunct</a>
firm had worked with multiple political campaigns, including Donald
Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, and claimed to be able to create <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/10/16/15657512/cambridge-analytica-facebook-alexander-nix-christopher-wylie">“psychographic” profiles</a>
to create personality profiles for voters. Cambridge Analytica got the
data from a researcher who made a personality quiz app on Facebook that
collected information on users and their friends.</p>
<p id="gmail-ZkRLtd">After the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, lawmakers,
regulators, and users all over the world were, understandably, outraged.
The Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/03/statement-acting-director-ftcs-bureau-consumer-protection">said</a> it would launch an investigation into whether Facebook’s handling of data violated a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/11/29/142898301/facebook-settles-with-ftc-on-charges-it-deceived-users-on-privacy">2011 consent order</a> it had with the company. </p>
<p id="gmail-mqg475">Facebook said it was <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/hard-questions-cambridge-analytica/">sorry</a> and <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/03/cracking-down-on-platform-abuse/">promised to do better</a>. It literally took out full-page newspaper ads apologizing.</p><div class="gmail-l-col__main"><div class="gmail-c-entry-content"><p id="gmail-Nba2HZ">In
April, Facebook admitted that 87 million users had been affected by the
Cambridge Analytica scandal, and Zuckerberg went to Washington. He
testified before both <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/10/17222062/mark-zuckerberg-testimony-graham-facebook-regulations">Senate</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/4/11/17224244/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-hearing-privacy">House of Representatives</a>
and fielded a wide range of questions from lawmakers, including its
efforts to combat Russian disinformation and fake news, user privacy,
and potential monopolistic practices. </p>
<p id="gmail-lOQNcD">What became clear in the hearings was that US lawmakers
seem confused about what Facebook does, what its problems are, and how
to fix it — in other words, don’t hold your breath if you’re
anticipating <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/10/17208322/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-congress-testimony-regulation">big tech regulation</a> from the US. </p>
<p id="gmail-h46HZi">As part of its apology tour, Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/authenticity-matters/">banned the Russian trolls from the IRA</a>, said it would make ads and pages <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/transparent-ads-and-pages/">more transparent</a>, and put out a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/here-together-60-video/10157309509986729/">splashy video</a> saying it would do better.</p>
<div id="gmail-tHFgkX">
<div id="gmail-fb-root" class="gmail-fb_reset"><div style="width:0px;height:0px"><div></div><div></div></div></div>
<div class="gmail-fb-video gmail-fb_iframe_widget gmail-fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop" style="width:100%"><span style="vertical-align:bottom;width:100%;height:414px"></span></div>
</div>
<h3 id="gmail-Eof1og">Zuckerberg runs into troubles in Europe</h3>
<p id="gmail-6THw96">In May, it was European lawmakers’ turn to take a crack at Zuckerberg, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/22/17381776/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-europe-privacy-gdpr">who appeared before the European Parliament</a>.
The good news: European politicians seem to have a much better hold on
the ins and outs of Facebook and approached Zuckerberg with tough,
skeptical questions. The bad news: Zuckerberg got about 10 minutes, at
the end of the hearing, to respond.</p>
<p id="gmail-OBIeTe">May was also the month that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/5/17199754/what-is-gdpr-europe-data-privacy-facebook">General Data Protection Regulation</a> (GDPR), a new privacy and data collection law, went into effect in Europe. Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/new-privacy-protections/">made a show of complying</a>. </p>
<p id="gmail-k0RWey">The same month, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/facebook-accused-of-conducting-mass-surveillance-through-its-apps">the Guardian</a>
mentioned a lawsuit brought against Facebook in the US by an app
developer named Six4Three that alleged its data policies favored some
companies over others. The story was largely missed, but one British
lawmaker paid attention, and in December, <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/12/6/18127980/facebook-uk-documents-emails-mark-zuckerberg">he obtained and released</a>
more than 200 pages of documentation from the suit. Among the
revelations: Zuckerberg and his team discussed how to make money off
user data, and Facebook discussed “whitelist” agreements with multiple
companies to help them access user information.</p>
<p id="gmail-LUuXLb">Over a later data breach, Facebook could also potentially face a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-faces-potential-1-63-billion-fine-in-europe-over-data-breach-1538330906">$1.6 billion</a> fine out of Europe. </p>
<h3 id="gmail-WKeOZ2">The scandals just keep coming</h3>
<p id="gmail-VwN75o">Month after month, through the summer and into the fall, revelations about Facebook kept coming. </p>
<p id="gmail-PyUrc2">In June, the Times <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/4/17424174/facebook-user-data-deal-device-manufacturer-nyt-report">reported</a> that Facebook gave some 60 device makers access to user data, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/facebook-gave-data-access-to-chinese-firm-flagged-by-us-intelligence.html">Huawei</a>, a Chinese telecommunications company that US intelligence has <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/11/18134440/huawei-cfo-arrest-5g-risk-meng-wanzhou">expressed concerns</a> about for years. </p>
<p id="gmail-LaOg9a">Also over the summer, Facebook revealed bugs in features that let users <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/06/audience-selector-error/">decide whom they shared content with</a> and whom they <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/07/blocking-bug/">blocked</a>. It made announcements about flagging and deleting suspicious activity ahead of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17635592/facebook-elections-russia-2018-midterms">2018 midterms</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/21/17766422/facebook-influence-campaign-russia-iran-fake-accounts">tackling accounts out of Russia and Iran</a>. It <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/technology/facebook-federal-investigations.html">also</a>
said the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission were looking into its affairs as part of the
Cambridge Analytica probe. </p>
<p id="gmail-jGIiDC">But it became a sort of one step forward, two steps back scenario.</p>
<p id="gmail-ZgsNM6">On August 6, Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/enforcing-our-community-standards/">banned</a> right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; on August 13, the federal government <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/19/17757108/us-department-of-housing-and-urban-development-facebook-complaint-race-gender-discrimination">filed charges</a> saying that Facebook had violated the Fair Housing Act by allowing ads to discriminate against certain groups. (<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/21/facebook-is-removing-over-5000-ad-targeting-options-to-prevent-discriminatory-ads/">Facebook later said it was removing the ads</a>.) And in September, the American Civil Liberties Union <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/649158898/facebook-allowed-employers-to-exclude-women-from-job-ads-aclu-says">alleged</a> that Facebook let employers target job ads just to men.</p>
<p id="gmail-rN3AOL">In April, Facebook said it would self-implement the <a href="https://www.axios.com/facebook-ad-changes-5da9d7f7-d297-488b-9f46-9729101201f8.html">Honest Ads Act</a>,
legislation that would require more transparency about who’s buying
political ads on its platform. As the midterms approached, <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/11/15/18096935/new-york-times-facebook-soros-zuckerberg-schumer">people were still able to buy and place political ads</a> and put them under anyone’s names, <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/wj9mny/facebooks-political-ad-tool-let-us-buy-ads-paid-for-by-mike-pence-and-isis">including Vice President Mike Pence and the Islamic State</a>.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-LPyv2u">The concerns about data privacy and security go well beyond Cambridge Analytica</h3>
<p id="gmail-NEsEO3">Over the course of the year, it’s become increasingly
clear that Facebook’s security and privacy issues go far beyond
Cambridge Analytica — and that the company is never going to come out
and say what its problems are, or fix them. </p>
<p id="gmail-HKeTh5">In September, Facebook released a “<a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/09/security-update/">security update</a>” saying a breach had exposed the data of 50 million users. It eventually revealed that <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/10/update-on-security-issue/">about 30 million users’</a> “access tokens” had been stolen that hackers could use to take over people’s accounts.</p>
<p id="gmail-PKqPQp">Then in December, Facebook said it has <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/14/18140771/facebook-photo-exposure-leak-bug-millions-users-disclosed">exposed</a>
up to 6.8 million people’s private photos in another leak. That breach
had also happened in September, but Facebook waited about six weeks to
mention it.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-5RjL8x">It’s not clear if Facebook actually can — or wants to — get better</h3>
<p id="gmail-Pe1DTR">What’s become increasingly clear throughout the year is
that Facebook might not want or have the ability to fix itself. While
publicly it’s constantly apologizing, privately, it’s still acting
shady.</p>
<p id="gmail-i2Uum2">In November, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/technology/facebook-data-russia-election-racism.html">the Times detailed</a>
how Facebook, including Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl
Sandberg, had sought to downplay and deny recent scandals around it,
including Cambridge Analytica and Russian meddling. The report also
outlined how Facebook hired the Republican consulting firm Definers to
conduct and spread <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/16/18098728/facebook-anti-semitism-george-soros-definers-nyt">opposition research</a>
about its detractors, including highlighting their ties to liberal
billionaire George Soros, a maneuver many called anti-Semitic. Sandberg
also came under fire for reportedly <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18119616/sheryl-sandberg-soros-freedom-from-facebook">asking whether Soros</a> had shorted Facebook’s stock.</p>
<p id="gmail-S1UyoT"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-facebook-at-war-zuckerberg-adopts-more-aggressive-style-1542577980">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported in November that Zuckerberg had told Facebook executives earlier in the year that his company was at war. </p>
<p id="gmail-DsH0zP">And that war has continued: <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/17/18144946/senate-report-russia-facebook-twitter-google">Third-party reports</a>
for the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian interference released
on Monday said that Facebook and fellow tech giants Twitter and Google
had done the “bare minimum” to provide the committee data and
information. And on Wednesday, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/12/19/18148136/facebook-privacy-violations-nyt-netflix-spotify-amazon-yahoo">the Times</a>
reported that Facebook had allowed companies such as Spotify and
Netflix to access users’ private messages and provided access to other
user data for some 150 companies between 2010 and, you guessed it, 2018.
In response to the Times report, Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/12/facebooks-partners/">said</a> none of the features or partnerships gave access to people’s information without their permission and <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/12/facebooks-messaging-partnerships/">tried to explain the message access</a>.</p>
<p id="gmail-0KyBwo">Facebook keeps saying that it’s not selling user data, but it’s making money off it by letting outside parties take a peek.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-gWr2UM">This is hurting Facebook</h3>
<p id="gmail-Zu26qT">Facebook has paid a price. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-employee-morale-drops-after-scandals-survey-report-2018-11">Employee morale is down</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/business/delete-facebook-account.html">calls for quitting Facebook</a> are growing louder, and the founders of two of its most popular products — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/30/jan-koum-whatsapp-co-founder-quits-facebook">WhatsApp</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/9/25/17900610/instagram-founders-resign-facebook-kevin-systrom">Instagram</a> — have resigned. Facebook’s stock price has declined by more than 20 percent this year, and Zuckerberg lost an estimated <a href="http://time.com/money/5478554/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-loss-net-worth/">$15 billion</a>. </p>
<p id="gmail-RmH69e">Despite all that, it appears that Facebook’s leadership
continues to believe its behavior is the best course of action. It’s a
business, and providing dubious access to user data, engaging in and
allowing shady political activity, and hiding errors until the last
minute, it seems, is perceived as more lucrative than the alternative. </p>
<p id="gmail-dzWcLb">Eventually, Facebook may be forced to really reckon with
what’s happened — because of law enforcement actions, fines, regulation,
user revolt, or something else. Thus far, through all the scandal, it’s
charging ahead. There will surely be another apology soon.</p><h3 id="gmail-Eof1og">Zuckerberg runs into troubles in Europe</h3><p id="gmail-6THw96">In May, it was European lawmakers’ turn to take a crack at Zuckerberg, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/22/17381776/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-europe-privacy-gdpr">who appeared before the European Parliament</a>.
The good news: European politicians seem to have a much better hold on
the ins and outs of Facebook and approached Zuckerberg with tough,
skeptical questions. The bad news: Zuckerberg got about 10 minutes, at
the end of the hearing, to respond.</p><p id="gmail-OBIeTe">May was also the month that the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/4/5/17199754/what-is-gdpr-europe-data-privacy-facebook">General Data Protection Regulation</a> (GDPR), a new privacy and data collection law, went into effect in Europe. Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/new-privacy-protections/">made a show of complying</a>. </p><p id="gmail-k0RWey">The same month, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/may/24/facebook-accused-of-conducting-mass-surveillance-through-its-apps">the Guardian</a>
mentioned a lawsuit brought against Facebook in the US by an app
developer named Six4Three that alleged its data policies favored some
companies over others. The story was largely missed, but one British
lawmaker paid attention, and in December, <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/12/6/18127980/facebook-uk-documents-emails-mark-zuckerberg">he obtained and released</a>
more than 200 pages of documentation from the suit. Among the
revelations: Zuckerberg and his team discussed how to make money off
user data, and Facebook discussed “whitelist” agreements with multiple
companies to help them access user information.</p><p id="gmail-LUuXLb">Over a later data breach, Facebook could also potentially face a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-faces-potential-1-63-billion-fine-in-europe-over-data-breach-1538330906">$1.6 billion</a> fine out of Europe. </p><h3 id="gmail-WKeOZ2">The scandals just keep coming</h3><p id="gmail-VwN75o">Month after month, through the summer and into the fall, revelations about Facebook kept coming. </p><p id="gmail-PyUrc2">In June, the Times <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/4/17424174/facebook-user-data-deal-device-manufacturer-nyt-report">reported</a> that Facebook gave some 60 device makers access to user data, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/facebook-gave-data-access-to-chinese-firm-flagged-by-us-intelligence.html">Huawei</a>, a Chinese telecommunications company that US intelligence has <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/11/18134440/huawei-cfo-arrest-5g-risk-meng-wanzhou">expressed concerns</a> about for years. </p><p id="gmail-LaOg9a">Also over the summer, Facebook revealed bugs in features that let users <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/06/audience-selector-error/">decide whom they shared content with</a> and whom they <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/07/blocking-bug/">blocked</a>. It made announcements about flagging and deleting suspicious activity ahead of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/31/17635592/facebook-elections-russia-2018-midterms">2018 midterms</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/21/17766422/facebook-influence-campaign-russia-iran-fake-accounts">tackling accounts out of Russia and Iran</a>. It <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/02/technology/facebook-federal-investigations.html">also</a>
said the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Securities and
Exchange Commission were looking into its affairs as part of the
Cambridge Analytica probe. </p><p id="gmail-jGIiDC">But it became a sort of one step forward, two steps back scenario.</p><p id="gmail-ZgsNM6">On August 6, Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/enforcing-our-community-standards/">banned</a> right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; on August 13, the federal government <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/19/17757108/us-department-of-housing-and-urban-development-facebook-complaint-race-gender-discrimination">filed charges</a> saying that Facebook had violated the Fair Housing Act by allowing ads to discriminate against certain groups. (<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/21/facebook-is-removing-over-5000-ad-targeting-options-to-prevent-discriminatory-ads/">Facebook later said it was removing the ads</a>.) And in September, the American Civil Liberties Union <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/18/649158898/facebook-allowed-employers-to-exclude-women-from-job-ads-aclu-says">alleged</a> that Facebook let employers target job ads just to men.</p><p id="gmail-dzWcLb">
</p><p id="gmail-rN3AOL">In April, Facebook said it would self-implement the <a href="https://www.axios.com/facebook-ad-changes-5da9d7f7-d297-488b-9f46-9729101201f8.html">Honest Ads Act</a>,
legislation that would require more transparency about who’s buying
political ads on its platform. As the midterms approached, <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/11/15/18096935/new-york-times-facebook-soros-zuckerberg-schumer">people were still able to buy and place political ads</a> and put them under anyone’s names, <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/wj9mny/facebooks-political-ad-tool-let-us-buy-ads-paid-for-by-mike-pence-and-isis">including Vice President Mike Pence and the Islamic State</a>.</p><h3 id="gmail-LPyv2u">The concerns about data privacy and security go well beyond Cambridge Analytica</h3>
<p id="gmail-NEsEO3">Over the course of the year, it’s become increasingly
clear that Facebook’s security and privacy issues go far beyond
Cambridge Analytica — and that the company is never going to come out
and say what its problems are, or fix them. </p>
<p id="gmail-HKeTh5">In September, Facebook released a “<a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/09/security-update/">security update</a>” saying a breach had exposed the data of 50 million users. It eventually revealed that <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/10/update-on-security-issue/">about 30 million users’</a> “access tokens” had been stolen that hackers could use to take over people’s accounts.</p>
<p id="gmail-PKqPQp">Then in December, Facebook said it has <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/14/18140771/facebook-photo-exposure-leak-bug-millions-users-disclosed">exposed</a>
up to 6.8 million people’s private photos in another leak. That breach
had also happened in September, but Facebook waited about six weeks to
mention it.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-5RjL8x">It’s not clear if Facebook actually can — or wants to — get better</h3>
<p id="gmail-Pe1DTR">What’s become increasingly clear throughout the year is
that Facebook might not want or have the ability to fix itself. While
publicly it’s constantly apologizing, privately, it’s still acting
shady.</p>
<p id="gmail-i2Uum2">In November, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/technology/facebook-data-russia-election-racism.html">the Times detailed</a>
how Facebook, including Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl
Sandberg, had sought to downplay and deny recent scandals around it,
including Cambridge Analytica and Russian meddling. The report also
outlined how Facebook hired the Republican consulting firm Definers to
conduct and spread <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/11/16/18098728/facebook-anti-semitism-george-soros-definers-nyt">opposition research</a>
about its detractors, including highlighting their ties to liberal
billionaire George Soros, a maneuver many called anti-Semitic. Sandberg
also came under fire for reportedly <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/30/18119616/sheryl-sandberg-soros-freedom-from-facebook">asking whether Soros</a> had shorted Facebook’s stock.</p>
<p id="gmail-S1UyoT"><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/with-facebook-at-war-zuckerberg-adopts-more-aggressive-style-1542577980">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported in November that Zuckerberg had told Facebook executives earlier in the year that his company was at war. </p>
<p id="gmail-DsH0zP">And that war has continued: <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/12/17/18144946/senate-report-russia-facebook-twitter-google">Third-party reports</a>
for the Senate Intelligence Committee on Russian interference released
on Monday said that Facebook and fellow tech giants Twitter and Google
had done the “bare minimum” to provide the committee data and
information. And on Wednesday, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/12/19/18148136/facebook-privacy-violations-nyt-netflix-spotify-amazon-yahoo">the Times</a>
reported that Facebook had allowed companies such as Spotify and
Netflix to access users’ private messages and provided access to other
user data for some 150 companies between 2010 and, you guessed it, 2018.
In response to the Times report, Facebook <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/12/facebooks-partners/">said</a> none of the features or partnerships gave access to people’s information without their permission and <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/12/facebooks-messaging-partnerships/">tried to explain the message access</a>.</p>
<p id="gmail-0KyBwo">Facebook keeps saying that it’s not selling user data, but it’s making money off it by letting outside parties take a peek.</p>
<h3 id="gmail-gWr2UM">This is hurting Facebook</h3>
<p id="gmail-Zu26qT">Facebook has paid a price. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-employee-morale-drops-after-scandals-survey-report-2018-11">Employee morale is down</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/business/delete-facebook-account.html">calls for quitting Facebook</a> are growing louder, and the founders of two of its most popular products — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/30/jan-koum-whatsapp-co-founder-quits-facebook">WhatsApp</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/business-and-finance/2018/9/25/17900610/instagram-founders-resign-facebook-kevin-systrom">Instagram</a> — have resigned. Facebook’s stock price has declined by more than 20 percent this year, and Zuckerberg lost an estimated <a href="http://time.com/money/5478554/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-loss-net-worth/">$15 billion</a>. </p>
<p id="gmail-RmH69e">Despite all that, it appears that Facebook’s leadership
continues to believe its behavior is the best course of action. It’s a
business, and providing dubious access to user data, engaging in and
allowing shady political activity, and hiding errors until the last
minute, it seems, is perceived as more lucrative than the alternative. </p>
<p id="gmail-rN3AOL">Eventually, Facebook may be forced to really reckon with
what’s happened — because of law enforcement actions, fines, regulation,
user revolt, or something else. Thus far, through all the scandal, it’s
charging ahead. There will surely be another apology soon. </p></div></div><div><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><b><span style="font-size:10pt"></span></b><span style="font-size:10pt"></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></span><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>