Mark Zuckerberg may have ditch the dark-skinned suit of clothes he wore during his congressional appearances last month , but the serious datum - privacy and election - security issues nurture during his testimony are still very much on his mind .
Zuckerberg said it to members of the House and Senate in mid - April and recur it to a conventionality center packed with developers today : Facebook can — and must — do well . “ What I ’ve learned this year is that we need to take a wide eyeshot of our responsibility . It ’s not enough to just build knock-down tools , we call for to verify that they ’re used for safe . And we will , ” Zuckerberg said . He highlighted exploiter privacy repeatedly during a keynote reference at the social medium giant ’s F8 developers conference today , sour it into his discussion of Facebook ’s newdating political platform , cooky - clearing tool , andvideo confabulate features .
But it ’s obvious that Zuckerberg wants to move beyond his society ’s scandals — even though , with the midterm election on the horizon , it ’s more important than ever that Facebook make itself for an outpouring of misinformation and data harvest .
The company ’s anticipated annunciation of a newfangled dwelling speaker wasreportedly scrappedfrom today ’s F8 agenda because its unveiling would raise too many questions about privateness at a time when Facebook is already fend off criticism about its wanton harvesting and distribution of data point . Although Zuckerberg said he is taking concealment and security department seriously , he also cracked jokes about his congressional testimony , propose he ’s eager to laugh - off the experience .
While talk over Watch Party , which Facebook friend can expend to watch lively videos together , Zuckerberg played a clip of his testimony . “ So let ’s say that your acquaintance is testify in Congress , for example , ” he joke , to laughter and applause . “ Now you ’re going to be able-bodied to bring your friend together , you could express mirth together , you could call together . Some of my friend actually did this . Let ’s not do that again any time presently . ”
If Zuckerberg want to avoid another trip to Capitol Hill , Facebook necessitate to get through the next election cycle without another Kremlin - back up troll farm fill the News Feed with malicious advert , or another data broker siphoning up information about 87 million Facebook users through a seemingly innocuous app . Zuckerberg called Cambridge Analytica ’s actions a “ break of combine ” and note that Facebook was hitch compressed - footed by Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election . “ We did n’t wait these coordinate information operation and bombastic electronic web of bogus accounts that we ’re now aware of , ” he explained . “ So I sat down with our squad after this and I said , ‘ We will never be unprepared for this again . ’ ”
But exactly how Facebook plans to avoid these pitfalls going forward did n’t get squeezed into this morning ’s keynote alongside announcements aboutOculus , Instagram , and WhatsApp . Instead , Facebook ’s main security officeholder , Alex Stamos — who isreportedly leave behind the company in August , prior to the midterm exam — updated a much smaller crew about the company ’s election security crusade later in the good afternoon .
Facebook is preparing for three type of election attacks , Stamos explained — attacks that use misinformation or false amplification to spread faux tidings ; attack that utilize harassment , furiousness , or hacking ; and attacks that are think to cut down voter turnout .
Disenfranchisement efforts can use misinformation or threats , Stamos say . For example , an aggressor could spread a fake news news report take that polling places are closing too soon , or endanger violence against voters who show up to specific polling topographic point . Facebook imagines that these kinds of attacks might be targeted against specific demographic groups or helper of a special candidate .
“ While our solution to these issues are die to have to be customized for each of the dozens of elections that we ’re looking to protect in 2018 , the overall fabric is snuff it to be more or less the same , ” Stamos said .
In addition to set up for and preventing attacks , Facebook is also trying to make commonwealth a fun feature — it ’s encouraging users to absorb straight with their local representatives through a tool calledTown Hall .
However , it ’s not yet readable how well any of Facebook ’s response to misinformation and data harvesting will work . Between Stamos ’ impending passing and Facebook ’s decision to carve off its election wholeness efforts from its high-pitched - visibility product announcements , it ’s easy to ideate these efforts being sidelined as the company tries urgently to move on and repair its paradigm — even if doing so is essential to that goal .
“ Misinformation is an ancient tactic , but its lotion to social networks that scale across billion of citizenry , and the responsibilities of those platform , is something that has not been well - defined , ” Stamos said . “ And we are working really hard to understand what materialize in the US in 2016 and to ensure that does n’t fall out again , either in the US or in any of the election around the worldly concern . ”
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