Facebook Scandal

by Thiago Rego

On March 16, Facebook announced that Cambridge Analytica has been analysing the data of more than 50 million users.

That action caused the company to lose 80 billion dollars in market value. Cambridge Analytica worked on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Other social medias such as Google and Twitter,  have been losing users and money as well. Investors are worrying that Facebook, Google and Twitter could all face the lost of money and users in the United States and around the world because of the Cambridge Analytica controversy.

However, Facebook is planning a revamp after the scandal in order to comply with new EU rules.

Erin Egan Facebook chief privacy officer acknowledged the damage made in the company by Cambridge, he also said that the situation made them act to prevent future incidents.

“The last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies, and to help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data, we’ve heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find, and that we must do more to keep people informed.” wrote Erin Egan
A Freedom HS student was interviewed to say his opinion about the Facebook’s scandal.

A Junior of 18 years named Guilherme Leite was interviewed:

“Do you know about the Facebook Scandal?” (Reporter).

“No, I don’t know about it” (Guilherme L).

“Do you approve Facebook’s actions of invading people’s privacy?” (Reporter).
“No, because they’re entering people’s privacy to know more about their lives and sometimes social media is not always identical to real life” (Guilherme L).

“If that ever happened to you, would you keep using Facebook?” (Reporter).

“No, because it’s considered a privacy invasion and if they wanna know more about me, they can ask for a survey or just knock on my door” (Guilherme L).

“How do you feel about it? Is this scandal going to affect the way you use Facebook?” (Reporter).

“ People should have more privacy and the right to keep their own information to themselves . The scandal didn’t affected the way I use the app because even if I stop using it, they will still invade my privacy in other social medias, and I also don’t have anything to hide.” (Guilherme L).

People are being watched. Every LIKE or every VIEW is being monitored by someone, people are being more careful with social media but that’s not enough. The world is changing and people are having less privacy by each comment, each click, and by each view.

On April 11, 2018 Mark Zuckerberg went to Washington in a testimony of 2 days (10 hours). During the process, more than 100 lawyers asked him a total of 600 questions about different types of questions.

After the meeting, Mark apologized and promised that Facebook is going to have some changes. Regulations are in Facebook’s future.