In October, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, appeared before the US lawmakers for questioning. Zuckerberg was, this time, barred by the US House Committee on Financial Services about its cryptocurrency, Libra. Libra is Facebook’s newest investment. Legislators were irked that Facebook allowed deceptive political ads and facilitating child abuse. Now, they were anxious that Facebook might cause chaos on finance and let Zuckerberg hear their condemnation. California Democratic representative, Rep. Maxine Waters, led the disapproval.
The tech boss appeared in Washington during Facebook’s year of an enduring list of chaos. The company received criticism for a controversial policy, allowing politicians to lie in political ads. The tech giant is now under scrutiny by attorneys general from 47 states. Besides, it was fined $5 billion for its constant confidentiality mishaps by the Federal Trade Commission. Despite the chaos, Facebook continues to progress, and its placing itself to be more powerful. The company told Congress that it wouldn’t unveil its digital currency without regulatory consent. Facebook’s sustained growth and chaos have attracted constant complaints from activists, celebrities, and legislatures. David Vladeck criticized Facebook for failing to protect user confidentiality satisfactorily. Vladeck directed the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection from 2009 to 2012.
However, Facebook insists on convincing the officials and the users of its responsibility on privacy. The issue was that the privacy tool would allow sharing of a user’s details to third-party apps, but they would not be deleted when one disconnected from the apps. Facebook replied to discriminatory ad targeting by claiming that some advertisers would not be able to show their ads to some of the audience. The messages would be encrypted for them to be visible to the sender and the receiver only.
Due to similar problems, Facebook censured its proceeds to see if the changes were effective. Accusations of letting its services being misused by the people arose. This made their slogan of bringing people closer to be hindered. Even after complaints, Facebook did not remove House Speaker’s Nancy Pelosi video. It reduced the spread of the video after it was proven to be false. Peter Thiel proposed for the same strategies, but Facebook advocated for changes in ad targeting. During a talk, the CEO said that the users would not like to be limited on the basis of what they posted.
Despite the problems, Facebook’s officials have been searching for solutions. Some propose that other social networking sites should be restricted. The company further opposes the idea of breaking it down since it would delay its fights against Facebook’s crimes.
