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Zuckerberg’s Facebook privacy push

Zuckerberg’s Facebook privacy push
Grace Sweeney

Grace Sweeney

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Social networking CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed his vision to rebrand Facebook as a privacy-focused platform. His plan is to focus on promoting private interactions, encrypted messaging, and security.

Zuckerberg

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Zuckerberg acknowledges that Facebook’s reputation has suffered in recent years. Between fake news and data breaches, the social network isn’t exactly known for protecting consumer information.

As such, it should come as no surprise that a recent blog announcement was met with a heavy dose of skepticism.

Zuckerberg’s aim here is to create “more living room” than “public square.” Facebook’s whole business model depends on harvesting vast quantities of data.

In any case, here’s a little more about the proposed privacy pivot, and whether it’s valid.

So, what’s the Facebook privacy plan?

Facebook privacy

According to the post, Facebook plans to develop the new security features the same way that it developed WhatsApp. It will first focus on making super private messaging, then building the rest of the platform’s features on top of that encrypted backdrop.

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Zuckerberg says that the privacy-focused platform will center around the following components:

  • Private interactions
  • Reducing permanence
  • Safety
  • Interoperability
  • Encryption
  • Secure data storage

This builds on the plan to weave Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram messaging into a cross-platform messaging system. Long-term, the plan calls for all apps to be encrypted, so only the sender and recipient can see message content. WhatsApp already has this feature, but Instagram and Facebook do not.

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Zuckerberg says that most of the communication we do takes place behind closed doors. As such, it makes sense to apply the same privilege to social media conversations.

Do we believe him?

Oh, boy… Critics don’t seem convinced that the changes have the public’s best interests at heart.

In the New York Times, Zeynep Tufecki wrote an op-ed response to Zuckerberg’s manifesto. Dr. Tufecki raises some important points — will Facebook stop scraping data about our finances or health? Will it stop creating shadow profiles? What will the FB business model look like moving forward?

After all, Facebook makes the big bucks by charging advertisers to target audiences using FB’s data. Given the latest revelations about the health tracking apps sharing sensitive health information with the platform, it’s evident that there’s still a lot that needs to be done to protect consumer identities.

WhatsApp problems could plague FB, too

Interestingly, Zuckerberg highlights encryption and private messaging as these tools for positive change.

On the consumer side, it makes perfect sense. No one loves the idea that Zuckerberg’s team could pull up their latest text thread.

But, if you look at what’s happened in countries like India and Brazil with WhatsApp, it’s clear that there’s significant potential for misuse.

WhatsApp privacy

As a quick refresher, WhatsApp was reportedly used to spread mass propaganda in Brazil. If users don’t share that information outside the platform, Facebook can’t see what’s happening inside the app.  They also can’t track where that misinformation is coming from.

It’s possible Facebook has their own best interests in mind by incorporating end-to-end encryption. It might help them avoid future legislation for nefarious activity that happens on the platform. They could plead ignorance, as they can’t see where harmful content comes from.

Still, internet privacy highlights a trade-off between individual security and the ability to stop harmful content and regulate abuse.

Facebook probably doesn’t have our best interests in mind

Facebook dislike

Based on his blog entries, Zuckerberg is making an effort to do better. The truth is, the platform won’t stop leaking. Yet, recently news broke that another data breach left more than 540 million accounts exposed.

But other factors pushing Facebook toward private messaging stand to be big money savers for the platform long-term. Marketing expert Jay Baer predicts that more private messaging means more ad space. This means more money for Facebook.

In the memo, Zuckerberg writes, “We have an opportunity to set out where we stand, to decide how we value our private communications, and who gets to decide how long and where data should be stored.”

Here’s the thing: even if Facebook can’t read our chat threads anymore, there’s no guarantee they won’t collect other types of data.

Grace Sweeney

Grace Sweeney

Grace is a painter turned freelance writer who specializes in blogging, content strategy, and sales copy. She primarily lends her skills to SaaS, tech, and digital marketing companies.

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