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Russian politicians want a piece of Mark Zuckerberg, too
Mark Zuckerberg has testified before Congress and the European Parliament and now Russia is calling for the Facebook CEO to address its politicians as well. The Moscow Times reports that Senator Anton Belyakov suggested the invite, who, pointing to President Putin's calls to "digitize the economy," said, "I am absolutely confident that this is a person who has ideas to share and who is looking to the future." In regards to that effort, Belyakov noted that Zuckerberg had touched on the topic in his earlier testimonies. "After all, he spoke about information security, not giving access to personal data, preventing the dissemination of harmful content," said Belyakov.
Facebook is rolling out its GDPR privacy rules to the world
At first, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg only agreed with the European Union's General Data Protection Rules (GDPR) "in spirit." Now, following Zuckerberg's appearance before EU parliament, the social network is applying GDPR's framework to accounts across the globe. "People have told us they want clearer explanations of what information we collect and how we use it," chief privacy officer Erin Egan writes. Egan explains that within the next few weeks, when you log in, you'll have a notification so you can review details about advertising, face recognition and information you've chosen to share on your profile.
Watch Mark Zuckerberg's EU privacy hearing right here
Mark Zuckerberg is visiting European Parliament today and you can watch the livestream right here. The broadcast starts at around 12:20 PM ET, with EU officials holding a press conference roughly an hour later to discuss the meeting's events. Zuckerberg will be questioned by Antonio Tajani along with other EU officials, likely regarding the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law that goes into effect May 25th.
Mark Zuckerberg will apologize to EU for not taking 'broad enough view'
You won't have to wonder much about what Mark Zuckerberg will say when he meets with the European Parliament later on May 22nd. Business Insider has obtained the Facebook chief's introductory speech, and contrition is clearly the order of the day. Zuckerberg is expect to apologize for his company not taking a "broad enough view of our responsibilities," including the need to curb fake news, fight election interference by countries like Russia and, of course, prevent developers from abusing data. He's also expected to reiterate the changes Facebook is making to mend its ways, such as "doubling" the number of safety and security staffers.
Progressive groups want FTC to split Facebook into multiple companies
Today, Axios reports that progressive groups will launch an advertising offensive aimed squarely at Facebook. Their mission? To convince the FTC to break up the company. They also want users on competing social networks to be able to communicate with one another, as well as the implementation of stronger privacy rules. "Facebook is in a competitive environment where people use our apps at the same time they use free services offered by many others," a Facebook spokesperson told Engadget. "The average person uses eight different apps to communicate and stay connected. People use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger because they find them valuable, and we've been able to better fight spam and abuse and build new features much faster by working under one roof. We support smart privacy regulation and efforts that make it easier for people to take their data to competing services. But rather than wait, we've simplified our privacy controls and introduced new ways for people to access and delete their data, or to take their data with them."
Mark Zuckerberg's EU testimony will be streamed live
After refusing to speak with UK parliament twice, there was doubt over whether Mark Zuckerberg could be coaxed into discussing the Cambridge Analytica fiasco again. But recent efforts from Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, indicate the Facebook CEO won't only be attending a scheduled meeting -- it'll also be livestreamed.
Mark Zuckerberg agrees to EU meetings a day after ditching the UK
Today, Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament, announced that Mark Zuckerberg will meet with representatives of the European Parliament. "The founder and CEO of Facebook has accepted our invitation and will be in Brussels as soon as possible, hopefully already next week, to meet the leaders of the political groups and the Chair and the Rapporteur of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)," Tajani said in a statement. It should be noted that this is a meeting, not a public hearing, which is what the EU originally requested.
Facebook to UK parliament: No Zuckerberg for you
Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the UK asked Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a parliamentary committee in order to address questions and concerns about user data privacy. The CEO declined in March and the company sent CTO Mike Schroepfer to testify instead. But the UK's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee wasn't satisfied with Schroepfer's answers and sent follow up questions to Facebook as well as a renewed request for Zuckerberg to appear himself. "We hope that he will respond positively to our request, but if not, the committee will resolve to issue a formal summons for him to appear when he is next in the UK," wrote Committee Chair Damian Collins. However, despite the threat of a summons, Zuckerberg has again declined the request.
Facebook found 200 more apps that may have misused your data
Early results from Facebook's app audit are in. After examining "thousands" of apps to see if any had misused personal data, the social network has found 200 nefarious applications and suspended them. Names of the offending apps have not yet been released. The social network said that when it does find that an app has misused your data, it will notify users the same way it did if they were affected by Cambridge Analytica's data harvesting.
F8 proved there’s no escape from Facebook
During a keynote about privacy at F8, Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos shared an image of the world that used light to show the sheer size of the company's network. It was intended to highlight all the places where people are using a Facebook product and, as you might expect, there weren't many dark spots.
Facebook: AI will protect you
Artificial intelligence is a key part of everything Facebook does, from chatbots in Messenger to powering the personalized recommendations you get on apps like Instagram. But, as great as the technology is to create new and deeper experiences for users, Facebook says the most important role of AI lies in keeping its community safe. Today at F8, the company's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, highlighted how valuable the tech has become to combating abuse on its platform, including hate speech, bullying and terrorist content. Schroepfer pointed to stats Facebook revealed last month that showed that its AI tools removed almost two million pieces of terrorist propaganda, with 99 percent of those being spotted before a human even reported them.
Facebook is trying to close the book on Cambridge Analytica
Mark Zuckerberg is over it. Yes, Facebook allowed the data of more than 80 million users to land in the hands of a partisan political consulting firm during an obscenely contentious presidential election, but that's all in the distant past. You know, like last month.
UK warns Zuckerberg will face summons if he doesn't testify
The UK has reiterated its request for Mark Zuckerberg to testify before its Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Parliamentary Committee and this time it says if the CEO declines, he'll be compelled to appear the next time he steps foot in the country. In March, following reports that Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained information on millions of Facebook users, the committee asked Zuckerberg to testify on the company's "catastrophic failure of process," but the CEO declined. Instead, Facebook sent a letter summarizing its recent data privacy changes and offered up some other high-level employees in place of Zuckerberg.
Watch Facebook’s F8 opening keynote at 1PM ET
After a few turbulent weeks for Facebook, it's now time for the company to host its annual F8 developers conference in San Jose, California. And kicking off the event is none other than embattled CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who's expected to talk about a wide range of topics. That, of course, includes user data and privacy -- the thing everyone wants to know about right now, after what happened with Cambridge Analytica. But, that won't be it: Zuckerberg will likely also touch on the overall state of the business, like the present and future of Messenger, Oculus, Instagram, Whatsapp and much more. You can tune in at 10AMPT/1PM ET right here.
Your data is valuable, but you’re never getting paid for it
It's hard to find a positive side to the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal. But if there is one, it's that it's caused tech companies, lawmakers and users to think more deeply about personal data, how it's being used and who actually owns it. Facebook says that you, the user, are the sole owner of whatever information you consent to share with it. But it will use that data to offer you a free service based on targeted ads. The thing is, Facebook makes billions of dollars doing that, and there are some people who believe you should be getting a piece of it. After all, you are the product.
Fake Mark Zuckerbergs tried to scam Facebook users for cash
A number of Facebook and Instagram accounts have been parading as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, tricking vulnerable individuals into sending large amounts of money in order to collect bogus lottery winnings, the New York Times reports. The newspaper describes multiple cases wherein Facebook users were contacted by fake accounts claiming to be Facebook executives offering hundreds of thousands of dollars in supposed winnings. In many cases, the "winners" were asked to send hundreds of dollars in iTunes gift card redemption codes or even thousands of dollars in cash -- delivery fees required for collecting the lottery funds.
Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook has 'thought about' paid subscriptions
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of a Senate commission earlier this month, he made a statement that hinted at the company exploring paid subscriptions down the line. He specifically said that they would always offer a free version of Facebook, leaving the door open for other paid versions as well. On today's earnings call, COO Sheryl Sandberg got even more concrete, saying that "we've certainly thought about lots of other forms of monetization including subscriptions, and we'll always continue to consider everything."
Constant controversy hasn't stopped Facebook from making money
When it comes to public perception, Facebook hasn't had the best 2018 so far. Over the past few months, the company's been working hard to clean up its image after dealing with a series of nightmares, including the idea that the site was becoming toxic and, most recently, the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal that led CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify before US Congress. But business goes on, and today Facebook released its Q1 2018 earnings report, which shows it made a revenue of $11.97 billion, an insane 49 percent year-over-year increase.
Facebook will skip House hearing on social media censorship
Mark Zuckerberg won't be taking another trip to Washington DC anytime soon. There's a hearing on Capitol Hill this Thursday regarding the way social media firms filter content, according to Reuters, and Facebook has declined the House of Representatives' invitation. Google and Twitter did the same. Diamond and Silk, whose names came up repeatedly from Republican lawmakers during Zuckerberg's testimony, however, will be in attendance.
Senate bill would require clearly worded terms for online data privacy
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Kennedy (R-LA) have introduced a new bill aimed at protecting consumers' online data privacy. They announced plans for such a bill earlier this month after Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress. "Every day companies profit off of the data they're collecting from Americans, yet leave consumers completely in the dark about how their personal information, online behavior, and private messages are being used," Senator Klobuchar said in a statement. "Consumers should have the right to control their personal data and that means allowing them to opt out of having their data collected and tracked and alerting them within 72 hours when a privacy violation occurs and their personal information may be compromised. The digital space can't keep operating like the Wild West at the expense of our privacy."
