The CEO and founder of Meta reportedly did not provide an exact timeline during his hearing before the US Congress in 2019.
Simple error of date or deliberate maneuver not to find itself embroiled in a planetary scandal?
A worldwide and democratic scandal
In 2018, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, was accused of having participated in the activities of the firm Cambridge Analytica and of allowing this company to collect personal data from millions of accounts, particularly in the United States.
The accusation is serious, because Cambridge Analytica was able to study and cross-check all of its data to influence the vote of many American voters and to have allowed the victory of Donald Trump. The same is true in the UK, where staunch Brexit advocates have been able to use this information to target thousands of voters and guide their decision.
The case had such a stir that Mark Zuckerberg himself had to explain the actions of his company and its links with Cambridge Analytica. Only, a new report shows that the young billionaire twisted the facts to ensure his defense.
Zuckerberg gets lost in dates and would have known about Cambridge Analytica as early as 2017
Before the House Financial Services Committee on October 23, 2019, Mark Zuckerberg said he heard about Cambridge Analytica in March 2018: “ I’m not sure of the exact time, but it was probably around the time it went public, I think it was around March 2018. I could be wrong, though “, he declared in particular in front of the representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
However, the independent organization Real Facebook Oversight Board got their hands on a statement by the same Mark Zuckerberg, this time made a few months earlier, on February 19, 2019. In this speech, the leader acknowledges having read Cambridge Analytica in 2017. The man would have sent an email to his teams to request more information about the firm after a press article published by the site Motherboard.
” I guess I had heard of them before. And that after seeing a few mentions of what they claimed to do, I wanted to ask people I trusted what their assessment was. “, he says to the members of the commission.
Asked about this calendar concern, which raises questions about the daily management of Facebook and its practices, Meta does not answer and kicks in touch. The group indicates in particular that this affair is ancient history and recalls the transaction of 5 billion dollars carried out to put an end to the lawsuits, as well as the new confidentiality policies put in place. Move along, nothing to see.
Source : Engadget
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