2021 was supposed to be the year when Mark Zuckerberg really started to repair Facebook. This is the CEO’s annual self-improvement plan. Looking back on Facebook’s 2021, it may be safe to say that few people In terms of implementing the New Year’s plan, we have failed so much. In 2021, Facebook scandals continued, leading to unprecedented close attention and censorship from the government and the media, strong reactions from users, continuous departures of executives, and stock prices plummeting.
In 2021, the scandal exposed by Facebook has actually been brewing for a long time, and this is largely related to the foundation of the company. Facebook adopts a business model based on a large number of users and earning advertising fees. On the basis of large-scale data collection. But for this Silicon Valley social media giant, 2021 is undoubtedly an important turning point, and in the future, where Facebook will go is still unclear. So, what happened in 2021? What will change?
1. In 2021, Facebook scandals continued
1. Cambridge Analytica's data breach scandal
Considering how much pressure the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal has brought to Facebook, the incident may eventually become the most influential scandal in the history of Facebook. In 2021, this is not a new story. There is a lot of news. The media has launched an investigation on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team, which hired the British-based data analysis company. However, the sensational reports from The New York Times, The Guardian and Channel 4 let the world know how much user data Facebook shared with third-party developers (especially from 2010 to 2010). Between 2014 and afterwards, Facebook began to block their access rights), but Facebook never told its users how much their information was lost, how it was lost, and how easily outsiders can obtain this information.
2. Data sharing
In the next few months, the news media and members of Congress will learn more about how Facebook builds its own business, not through "sales data" (accusations denied by its executives), but through Collect and exchange data, and make it public. Facebook allows device makers such as BlackBerry to access data; it has partners such as Netflix, Spotify, and even the Russian search engine Yandex, who get it from Facebook when they are turned away by other companies A large amount of user information data. These revelations came from the "Wall Street Journal", the court documents of a US lawsuit accepted by the British Parliament, and the "New York Times". Among them, the "New York Times" revelations may be the most eye-catching news. Although some people believe that the latest disclosures are either exaggerated or well-known, one thing is clear: Facebook has lost the trust of the news media and the public. The big question now is whether these data sharing agreements violate the consent decree reached by Facebook and the US Federal Trade Commission in 2011, which prohibits sharing user data with any other organization or individual without notifying the user. , It may also incur huge fines.
3. Data breach
Although data sharing is a feature of Facebook’s design, information can also be beyond the control of Facebook. In October last year, the company announced that the data of as many as 30 million users had been leaked in a large-scale hacking attack. Some of them The data is as sensitive as religious beliefs or location information. Just two months later, a loophole made the photos of as many as 6.8 million users vulnerable.
2. The deadly impact of fake news around the world
We live in an era that some people call "post-truth". False information is easier to spread than ever before, while real news and independent media have been relegated to "fake media." This cannot be attributed solely to the social network, but it must have a lot of responsibility-especially Facebook, which is so large that its products have replaced the Internet in some parts of the world for most or all. In 2021, the United Nations stated that Facebook had become a "beast" in Myanmar. Facebook allowed other people in Myanmar to provide false and abominable information about the Rohingya on the platform. Ethnic conflicts among Rohingyas; on a smaller scale, Facebook was also accused of racial conflicts in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, which had a similar impact; in India, the company had to change its encrypted instant messaging service WhatsApp The way it works is related to the rumors spread on the app before and deadly violence; in the United States, the opposition to Facebook fake news incidents is mainly focused on the notorious right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, including Facebook The tech platforms inside (Facebook is following, not leading this ban), ban Jones from logging on to their platform, and after helping Jones gain huge popularity and influence.
3. The continuing consequences of Russia's election interference
Russia’s intervention in the U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum may have appeared very early, but in 2021, we learned more about how Russian agents use social platforms, especially Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Spread false information and spread divergent positions among American voters. For example, two reports released in December detailed the breadth of Russia’s involvement, emphasizing that technology companies are almost powerless to contain the issue. These reports also show that Instagram’s image is cleaner than that of its parent company Facebook. In terms of its influence, it is stronger than previously thought.