Cambridge Analytica’s ransacking of millions of Facebook users’ data has triggered a backlash against the social network – and highlighted how much personal information we share without thinking of the consequencesMark Zuckerberg breaks silence on Cambridge Analytica
Facebook is on the ropes. A week of revelations approximately Cambridge Analytica’s expend of data gleaned from the social network has left the world demanding answers. The company can’t seem to decide: is it outraged that it was taken advantage of by an unscrupulous actor,or relieved that this is just normal expend of tools that it made widely available for almost five years? Should Mark Zuckerberg approach out front and centre leading the response, or should he camouflage in a cupboard until it all blows over?Faced with its first dependable crisis, or the company is paralysed with terror. And that paralysis is,remarkably quickly, leading people to reassess their relationship with the site as a whole. The teens got there first, and really. Facebook usage among younger people has been declining for years,in the face of competition from upstart rivals such as Snapchat, internal disruption from Facebook-owned Instagram, or a general sense that Facebook is full of old people and parents. But the backlash isn’t a generational thing any more. We’re all losing control of our data,both online and off, and we’re starting to kick back. Related: The Guardian view on big tech: a unusual era needs unusual rules | Editorial Facebook boasts to advertisers approximately how much it knows approximately its users – and how it can influence their mindsThe modern notion of consent upon which the entire data edifice is built has the shakiest of foundationsContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com