Facebook And Data Collection – Regulators Must Step Up To Defend User Protection

Facebook does not have the incentive to police the collection or use of data, according to a recent opinion piece by the company's former operations manager in The New York Times.

The social media behemoth "prioritized data collection from its users over protecting them from abuse," Parakilas writes, and has only reacted "when the press or regulators make something an issue", while remaining careful to "avoid any changes that would hurt the business of collecting or selling data".

Facebook’s total advertising revenue rose 49 percent in the third quarter of 2017, to $10.14 billion, about 88 percent of which came from mobile ads. 

Accountability and the Largest Internet Companies

Some of the biggest internet companies – Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Alibaba, among others – have in recent years clashed with regulators and society demanding they acknowledge their important position as information and data gatekeepers. 

Last year, for example, privacy officials from all 28 European authorities jointly called on Facebook to stop sharing information about its users with Whatsapp, which the company also owns. But while Facebook quietly rolled back its plan in Europe, it has continued to collect information from its user base elsewhere, including the United States. 

This has prompted a lively discussion in the media and the courts. Regulators from Colombia to Japan are mimicking Europe's tougher stance, which aims at giving users greater control over data from social media posts, online searches and other online activity. 

But especially in developing countries, larger companies still have a winning hand: They are helping people get online, subsidizing access, and improving coverage. With this great power should come great responsibility, as the saying goes, but as Parakilas reminds us, the great companies of our day are reluctant to assume the latter.