“Mark Zuckerberg is not comfortable with the enormous influence he has over the world,” Seth Fiegerman writes for CNNMoney. “During his apology tour this week for the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Zuckerberg lent support to the idea of regulating Facebook and admitted he’d rather not be the person making content policy decisions for the world. But he pushed back on one thing: Facebook’s immense power. When CNN’s Laurie Segall asked if Facebook had become ‘”too powerful,’ Zuckerberg responded: ‘I don’t think so.’ Zuckerberg argued that history shows any list of ‘the biggest [companies] in any given industry’ will inevitably change ‘ten years later, or ten years after that.'”
“And yet, at this moment, Facebook isn’t just on the list, but nearly unrivaled in its dominance. It has billions of users and tremendous influence over the media and advertising industries. It also has no obvious direct competitor who can take it down thanks to years of acquiring and cloning newer social media companies,” Fiegerman writes. “‘It influences how more than 2 billion around the world people see, think, and feel. I can’t think of an institution that has close to that power, with the possible exception of Google,’ says Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia and author of a forthcoming book on Facebook’s impact on democracy. ‘For Mark Zuckerberg to deny that,’ he added, ‘is insulting.'”
“‘Any company that can influence a US presidential election without being aware that it is doing so is demonstrably too powerful,’ Roger McNamee, Zuckerberg’s former mentor and a venture capitalist, told CNN by email,” Fiegerman writes. “Zuckerberg may play down how powerful Facebook is, but his interviews this week highlight his clear discomfort with the responsibility he now has, not just to make products, but to make policies with global impact. ‘I feel fundamentally uncomfortable sitting here in California in an office making content policy decisions for people around the world,’ Zuckerberg told Re/code. ‘[The] thing is like, ‘Where’s the line on hate speech?’ I mean, who chose me to be the person that did that? I guess I have to, because of [where we are] now, but I’d rather not.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Two monopolies, at least, have become too powerful: Facebook and Google. The U.S. has remedies available to it. The country just needs to find the backbone to utilize them.
SEE ALSO:
How to block Facebook completely from your Mac – March 22, 2018
How Facebook made it impossible to delete Facebook – March 22, 2018
What to expect from Facebook’s Zuckerberg if he testifies before Congress – March 21, 2018
Why Facebook’s blatant disregard for users’ privacy could be very good for Apple – March 21, 2018
Facebook’s surveillance machine – March 21, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg AWOL from Facebook’s damage control session – March 20, 2018
U.S. FTC reportedly probing Facebook’s abuse of personal data as UK summons Zuckerberg for questioning – March 20, 2018
The problem isn’t Cambridge Analytica: It’s Facebook – March 19, 2018
Apple: Privacy is a fundamental right – September 27, 2017
It’s past time for you to STOP USING FACEBOOK – March 19, 2018
Delete your Facebook: The only way to win the social game is not to play – March 19, 2018
How you access the super creepy data that Facebook has on you – March 12, 2018
Facebook asks users: Should we allow men to ask children for sexual images? – March 6, 2018
Study: Facebook is for old people – February 12, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg is fighting to save Facebook; announces major change to News Feed – January 12, 2018
Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes – January 11, 2018
Facebook is giving the US government more and more data – December 21, 2017
Former Facebook exec: Facebook is ‘destroying how society works’ – December 11, 2017
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ is opt-in – June 24, 2016
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ offers unique option for technology users – June 20, 2016
Apple’s use of cutting-edge tech will peek at user habits without violating privacy – June 16, 2016
Apple unveils iOS 10, the mother of all iOS releases – June 13, 2016
Apple previews major update with macOS Sierra – June 13, 2016
Apple seeks to use AI to keep Google off your iPhones, iPads, and Macs – June 15, 2016
Edward Snowden: Apple is a privacy pioneer – June 5, 2015
Tim Cook gets privacy and encryption: We shouldn’t surrender them to Google – June 4, 2015
Tim Cook attacks Google, U.S. federal government over right to privacy abuses – June 3, 2015
The price you’ll pay for Google’s ‘free’ photo storage – June 3, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook champions privacy, blasts ‘so-called free services’ – June 3, 2015
Passing on Google Photos for iOS: Read the fine print before you sign up for Google’s new Photos service – June 1, 2015
Why Apple’s Photos beats Google Photos, despite price and shortcomings – May 30, 2015
Is Apple is losing the photo wars? – May 29, 2015
How Google aims to delve deeper into users’ lives – May 29, 2015
Apple CEO Cook: Unlike some other companies, Apple won’t invade your right to privacy – March 2, 2015
Survey: People trust U.S. NSA more than Google – October 29, 2014
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook ups privacy to new level, takes direct swipe at Google – September 18, 2014
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for government, police – even with search warrants – September 18, 2014
U.S. NSA watching, tracking phone users with Google Maps – January 28, 2014
U.S. NSA secretly infiltrated Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say – October 30, 2013
Google has already inserted some U.S. NSA code into Android – July 10, 2013
Court rules NSA doesn’t have to reveal its semi-secret relationship with Google – May 22, 2013
Oh MDN don’t you realize that the back bone has left the country a long time ago, about 15 years to be exact.
I think that’s giving facebook too much credit. No, conversely, we have gotten too insipid, too vacuous, too hooked on quick gratification and imaginary validation, too lazy, and far too addicted to our own level of comfort. There would be no facebook without *us*, we are to blame, as are the young people we ourselves raised. We made this mess, no one else.
Sounds like a confession of your character, no? Well, at least you admit your flaws, something the great Trump would never do.
Listen, Dingleberry artist … I clean things off my PAWS that have more character than you. James is correct. Have some chocolate and a soft cookie.
Welcome to Facebook Daily News.
Apple baked Facebook into their OSes, not MacDailyNews.
There you have it, I commend Zuckergerg on not wanting to control the worlds content. Time for wise, Constitutional, regulation.
Facebook was too big for Zuckerberg when he stole the idea from the Winklevoss twins. He literally has no clue what he’s doing, or been doing. But it’s his mess now.
Not that clean a theft. Let me give you an example….
“I want to invent a time transporter!”
If someone actually does it, is it mine? The extent of the theft is the extent of my contribution. The Winklevii were ultimately compensated millions for doing very little.
Either way, he was duplicitous at the very least. Now, he’s trying to weasel out of this. You can’t always have it both ways no matter how much you think you should for your own success and survival.
He’s reaping what he sowed.
Fair enough.
Oh, poor Zuck. His comment is simply PR intent to make himself out to be a victim so that people can feel sorry for his predicament and leave him alone or else to lessen punishing him.
Will the SEC be arresting him for dumping his stock before this story broke?
Probably right after your president presents his tax returns as promised.
All American citizens are guaranteed the confidentiality of their tax returns…
even dolts like you.
In an hour-long interview with Letterman (new Netflix show), Obama said something that fairly clearly describes today’s problem. What everyone initially believed would become liberating technology, allowing the news (and truth) to spread freely, unencumbered by governments, special interests, state-controlled media, etc. Yet, the result is these information bubbles that rarely really have anything to do with truth. When we can control how news comes our way, we select to only get the news we like hearing. As soon as we do this, all these algorithms then sort and filter information for most effective result (engagement, comments, time spent reading), in order to maximise ad revenue. When three different people google “Egypt spring”, liberals get “Tahrir Square”; conservatives get “Muslim Brotherhood”, and center gets “Nile cruises”. Obviously, this is an extremely simplified example, but he did have a point. Not only do we actively select the type of news we want to hear, but even the search, which we would expect to be giving us most accurate results, will be filtered and biased in accordance with our own biases.
The system is obviously showing unintended consequences.
Facebook the single most useless app the world is ever seen. Social media is destroying the world