Following the turmoil surrounding the data breaches by Cambridge Analytica, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on Tuesday told his Twitter followers, and anyone else who was listening, to delete Facebook.
WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton told his Twitter followers to delete their accounts from the social media giant. Incidentally, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014 and Brian Acton left the company shortly after the sale.
Allegations that research firm Cambridge Analytica misused the data of 50 million Facebook users have reopened the debate about how information on the social network is shared and with whom.
Data is a commodity to Facebook – it is what brings advertisers to the platform, who in turn turn it into money. Cambridge Analytica demonstrated how powerful the data is in forming and framing marketing campaigns – as they did in the US 2016 election.
And there is no question that Facebook has the ability to build detailed and sophisticated profiles on users’ likes, dislikes, lifestyles and political leanings.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have remained quiet throughout the scandal, inviting yet more criticism from analysts and investors, and fueling critics who argue for more regulation of big tech companies.
A parliamentary committee called for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence about the use of personal data by Cambridge Analytica.
Damian Collins, accused Facebook of “misleading” the committee previously, and said it was “now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process”.
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