There’s no doubt. Facebook has a place in the 21st-century. But that place may not be the place Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg likes. Zuckerberg turned his college idea into a social media powerhouse by breaking a few corporate rules, and by allowing people to connect with each other. The concept of being friends with everyone is the foundation of the Facebook platform, but unfortunately, not everyone acts in a friendly way. Facebook is a social media giant, and in order to cash in on that success, Zuckerberg and his team allowed advertisers and corporate sponsors to use Facebook to influence the way people think about social, political, and even religious issues. Corporations could tap into the likes and dislikes of people who have a presence on Facebook and they use that information to produce profiles so they can benefit financially. But at the height of Zuckerberg’s quest to rule the social media industry, he went too far, according to lawmakers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
The Facebook debacle that rose to the front page of media reports around the planet not only gave Zuckerberg a wake-up call he didn’t expect it also gave him a social black eye. Cambridge Analytica put Zuckerberg in the hot seat when they allegedly copied the data of 50 million Facebook users. Mr. Zuckerberg didn’t help the situation when he didn’t step up right away and acknowledge wrongdoing on Facebook’s part. Cambridge Analytica allegedly gave Trump the edge, and he won the 2016 election because of that edge, according to people who were part of Trump’s election campaign.
Zuckerberg did admit Facebook didn’t protect the people who support his platform. But it took him almost a week after the news hit the press. But by that time, Facebook users were losing patience and leaving the social media giant. In order to put some kind of damage plan in place, Zuckerberg took out full-page ads in British newspapers to apologize for Facebook’s “breach of trust.” But Mr. Zuckerberg mea culpa in the U.K. as well as in the American press may not be enough to stop government scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic. Lawmakers realize Facebook has the power to change the outcome of political elections, and they know that has to stop.
Facebook will continue to connect family and friends. And it will continue to be a platform where people can express their views about social and political situations. But the companies that use Facebook to promote and sell products may have more government interference than they want in the future, according to some media reports.
Dil Bole Oberoi
