Consumers are outraged, many to the point of quitting Facebook entirely.
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The world’s largest social media network is coming under growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States, and is trying to fix its reputation among users, advertisers, lawmakers and investors.
The toxic political climate in Washington DC only amplifies Facebook’s brand damage.
Facebook’s privacy practices have come under fire after a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, got data inappropriately from millions of Facebook users.
However, the survey found that the Facebook users who planned to delete or suspend their accounts were already less active. Peripheral maker Sonos also pulled ads from Facebook. It is now nearly certain that the US Senate will impose tighter standards for digital advertising.
According to Disini, there are two major “regimes” when it comes to data privacy protection and the law.
Here’s a good place to start: Media Matters is calling on Facebook to ban any entity, be it the Trump campaign or any other, that is using a copy of Cambridge Analytica’s data or any other data set acquired by cheating. Senator John Thune, the committee chairman, and Bill Nelson, the top Democrat, said the committee would work with Facebook “to find a suitable date for Mr. Zuckerberg to testify in the coming weeks”.
There are signs the crisis could spread to other internet firms that have made no secret about using what they glean from digital data for targeted advertising.
Facebook’s algorithms, which are created to use user identifiable data for a more personalised experience is also put in question here as it learns all about users from the comments they post, the news stories they read as well as the pages users like.
Facebook, and everything else I do online, is a risk decision. However, even now, Facebooks valuation multiple has now derated to 23 times earnings.
Author Nick Bilton has covered some big names in tech and recently wrote about Zuckerberg and the impending “downward spiral” of Facebook – an assertion that now looks decidedly more prophetic after this week.
The world’s largest social media network is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States.
Zuckerberg and Facebook first apologized earlier this week and announced plans for new tools to help people protect their data. The other reason is that I see the futility of it.
Facebook traded at a 140 per cent valuation premium to the S & P 500 index three years ago. Each company has had its share of mishaps, and those mishaps correlate against the amount of data they collect; Apple has had privacy issues, Microsoft has had a few more, and Google has had even more. But there are no signs, so far, that users – or advertisers – are abandoning Facebook in droves. Yet Instagram alone is projected to generate $10 billion in revenues next year.
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Cambridge Analytica is the British firm at the heart of the controversy. He can be contacted at.
