Facebook shares plunge amid revelations of data misuse
Facebook is facing investigations in America and Europe over the alleged misuse of personal data.
Facebook shares plunged yesterday as the social media giant was pounded by criticism at home and abroad over revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign harvested and misused data on 50 million members.
Calls for investigations came on both sides of the Atlantic after Facebook responded to explosive reports of misuse of its data by suspending the account of Cambridge Analytica, a British firm hired by the US President’s 2016 campaign.
An undercover investigation of CA by Britain’s Channel 4 said executives boasted they could entrap politicians in compromising situations with bribes and Ukrainian sex workers, and spread misinformation online.
The executives claimed to have worked in more 200 elections across the world, including Argentina, the Czech Republic, India, Kenya and Nigeria.
The British firm said it “strongly denies” the claims from Channel 4 as well as reports on misuse of Facebook data.
“Facebook data was not used by Cambridge Analytica as part of the services it provided to the Donald Trump presidential campaign,” a statement read.
Democratic senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican John Kennedy called for Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to appear before congress, along with the CEOs of Google and Twitter.
The legislators said the companies “have amassed unprecedented amounts of personal data” and the lack of oversight “raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights”.
Facebook chief of security Alex Stamos said his role had shifted to focusing on emerging risks and election security at the global social network.
Mr Stamos revealed the change after T he New York Times reported he was leaving Facebook in the wake of internal clashes over how to deal with the platform being used to spread misinformation.
“Despite the rumours, I’m still fully engaged with my work at Facebook,” Mr Stamos tweeted. “It’s true my role did change. I’m currently spending more time exploring emerging security risks and working on election security.”
Mr Stamos advocated investigating and revealing manipulation of news at Facebook by Russian entities, to the chagrin of other top executives, the New York Times reported. US senator Ron Wyden asked Facebook to provide more information on what he called a “troubling” misuse of private data.
Vera Jourova, the European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, called the revelations “horrifying, if confirmed”, and vowed to address concerns in the US this week.
According to an investigation by the New York Times and the British newspaper The Observer, CA created psychological profiles on 50 million Facebook users through the use of a personality prediction app that was downloaded by 270,000 people, but also scooped up data from friends.
CA denied misusing Facebook data for the Trump campaign. British Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham said her office would seek a warrant to search Cambridge Analytica’s computer servers.
Facebook said it hired a digital forensics firm to examine the leak and to ensure any data collected was destroyed.
Facebook shares fell 6.8 per cent by the Nasdaq’s close amid concerns about pressure for new regulations that could hurt its business model. Shares slipped another per cent or so to $US170 ($220) in after-market trades.
Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University professor who studies social media, said the disclosures would increase pressure to regulate social media firms. “Self-regulation is not working,” she said.
Daniel Kreiss, a professor of media and communications at the University of North Carolina, said Facebook failed to live up to its responsibilities on ads. “The fact that Facebook seems to make no distinction between selling sneakers and selling a presidential platform is a deep problem,” he said.
Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research said the revelations highlighted “systemic problems at Facebook”.
David Carroll, a media professor at the Parsons School of Design, said Facebook and others would soon be forced to live with new privacy rules such as those set to take effect in the EU. “Facebook and Google will have to ask users a lot more permission to track them,” he said. “Most people are going to say no, so I think it’s going to have a huge impact.’’
AFP
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