A New York Times investigation has foundthat Facebook gave Netflix, Spotify and the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) the ability to read, write and delete users’ private messages. The Times investigation, based on hundreds of pages of internal Facebook documents, also found that Facebook gave 150 partners more access to user data than previously disclosed. Microsoft, Sony and Amazon, for example, could obtain the contact information of their users’ friends.
The Times’ new report caps off a very bad year for Facebook when it comes to public trust. Let’s just recap a few of the bigger stories, shall we?
March: The Observer reveals that Cambridge Analytica harvested the data of millions of Facebook users without their consent for political purposes. It is also revealed that Facebook had been keeping records of Android users’ phone calls and texts.
April: It was revealed that Facebook was in secret talks with hospitals to get them to share patients’ private medical data.
September: Hackers gained access to around 30m Facebook accounts.
November: Facebook acknowledges it didn’t do enough to stop its platform being as a tool to incite genocidal violence in Myanmar. A New York Times report reveals the company hired a PR firm to try and discredit critics by claiming they were agents of George Soros.
December: Facebook admitted it exposed private photos from 68 million users to apps that weren’t authorized to view your photos. (You can check if you were affected via this Facebook link.)
Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, criticized for months by lawmakers, privacy advocates and some investors, said he was “proud of the progress we’ve made,” fighting misinformation and protecting users’ personal data during one of the company’s most tumultuous years.
“To be clear, addressing these issues is more than a one-year challenge,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post. “For some of these issues, like election interference or harmful speech, the problems can never fully be solved.”
This year was one of constant apologies for the social network, after multiple instances of broken trust with its users. Zuckerberg testified for the first time in front of Congress in April, explaining why Facebook allowed users’ data to fall into the hands of unauthorized third parties. In his reflection on Friday, he made the case that Facebook is now a changed company, and will be more proactive about problems.
I’m shocked people are against peer review. That seems more fair than most systems.
Do these people think a job at one of the highest paying companies in the world should be easy? I swear it’s like people are disconnected from the results a company has to produce to afford that kind of compensation. Of course that’s going to require long hours and intense work.
Also, I’ve never worked for a company where people who are miserable and complain get promoted. If you’re miserable, then get another job. If you won’t, then accept that you’re trading happiness for money.
" The message was clear in August 2016 when the company [laid off the editorial staff of its trending news team, shortly after some workers on that team leaked to the press that they were suppressing conservative-leaning stories."
Wow, I’m shocked Facebook has a left bias and actively has policies to execute on it. Oh wait, it’s the worst kept secret in the world next to Google’s bias.
Another way to look at this “go along” culture is being nice to your coworkers and be a team player.
It’s a very recent phenomenon that tech workers think so highly of themselves that they think they have the right to be pampered like babies and treated like kings. The employees interviewed in that article essentially asked why they have to pretend to be nice to people. If they think Facebook is such a bad place to work, that it’s such a big burden to suppress their true feeling, why the heck did they stick around? And why the heck is that a problem of Facebook?
It’s the same way with that Damore guy at Google. “Why can’t I say women are dumb?” Yeah, why can’t you swear at Larry Page in his face?
Rabois went to Stanford law and a good friend with Thiel. He’s also a conservative. I agree with many of what he said, especially on the so-called crisis at Facebook. Well worth a listen.
They allow this fake news but suspend people for a meme saying a suspected cop killer is an illegal immigrant. Fake news is fine, but offend someone and get suspended. At this point, they might was well call themselves left book.
