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Nathaniel Brown

Professor Strickland

English 1010

13 February 2019

Facebook: Safe or Dangerous

Facebook is the world's largest social media site with people all over the world, and so

large that it can become its own country with the amount of active users in the billions. Facebook

has not seen many major scandals unlike the recent one this past year that came close to bringing

down the world's largest social media site and began talks of regulation or if facebook should

simply break up.

During March of 2018 an anonymous source from a company called Cambridge

Analytica. The anonymous source said that Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to use the

personal data of millions of it’s users without their permission and used it for political purposes.

Since the news broke of the secret deal between both companies, Mark Zuckerberg the CEO of

facebook testified before a congressional hearing where he explained facebook's misuse and

apologized for its involvement in the scandal.

The scandal has many people wondering if the company can still protect people's data or

if the company has given more data that users are unaware of and as a result the public's opinion

has shifted since then, with people not sure if they can trust facebook or if they should delete

facebook permanently as a result of their action.

The action of facebook has led to even further discussion of what other social media

companies are doing to protect our data from being sold to 3rd party companies and immediately
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following the news of the scandal, the other major social media accounts felt compelled to

respond to the worry of data being given to 3rd party companies.

The major social media companies responded by saying they are protecting users data

and that people should not worry, and with all this scandal has me wondering if the other

companies are lying that they are protecting our data with their statements and quietly in the

background they are calling up the people that they are sharing data with, to hide all possible

evidence that could be dug up.

If another company were involved in a similar scandal then that would add more pressure

on every company involved and result in strict oversight over the entire industry in every country

and probably be bad for business and various legal fights would then ensue as a result to protect

their interests that would then be limited in scope, but another argument that I would then think

about if the other companies not including facebook actually followed through with their

statement reassuring users that our data is safe and not being shared with any 3rd party company

that we as users are not aware of. The other companies have or should learn by now that if they

can’t properly regulate themself then they could be subjected to regulation as a result.

The public trust of these companies have been ruined and will have to take time to repair

these relationships that these companies have with their users and make the best case to prevent

the users from leaving because these companies rely on the users to generate revenue and

without revenue, there would be no company. I thought about what kind of regulations or what

kind of laws could actually be passed without violating people's rights or the company's access to

provide a tool for communication because it all relates back to freedom of speech, and how

courts and people would interpret today's technology to the basic fundamentals of freedom of

speech will be interesting but I think the user would benefit not having regulations because that
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is giving the government the power to limit the scope of communication in this country and as a

result limiting our freedom of speech.

While reading various credible resources and comparing the information I have

concluded that people were concerned about their personal data being shared and have quiet

social media but have rejoined the sites because they can’t properly live without social media,

rather because of social media addiction or that is the preferred way of communicating.

Facebook is an interesting type of company because they have ownership in that industry in

every corner.

Facebook has lost its credibility in the past year but it has shown that its profit has

increased and not dropped even though its shares have dropped when the news of the scandal

appeared and as a result has shown that people have stuck with the company regardless of the

data sharing. The date sharing is not dangerous especially in its use in politics but much more

should be done within each company in the technology industry to prevent the data from being

released anywhere that can be used to harm or steal individuals information. It is the duty to

remind our tech leaders that they are not above the law and that the users will leave if trust is not

fixed or the future scandals will be brought with bigger responses with action and ruin the tech

industry from growth and hinder the industry for years to come, but the recklessness shown must

stop because it helps nobody and the sharing is pointless with no beneficial benefits from the

deals other than temporary revenue.

Citations:
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/pages/Brian-Deagon/476286322455097. “Facebook Stock Flashes Multiple Sell Signals

Amid Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal | Stock News & Stock Market Analysis - IBD.”

Investor's Business Daily, Investor's Business Daily, 26 Mar. 2018,

www.investors.com/news/technology/facebook-stock-sell-signals-cambridge-analytica-

data-scandal/.

Davies, Harry. “Ted Cruz Campaign Using Firm That Harvested Data on Millions of

Unwitting Facebook Users.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Dec. 2015,

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/11/senator-ted-cruz-president-campaign-

facebook-user-data.

Farivar, Cyrus. “Facebook Accused of Massive Fraud in New Lawsuit Filed by Cook

County.” Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 25 Mar. 2018, arstechnica.com/tech-

policy/2018/03/cook-county-illinois-sues-facebook-and-cambridge-analytica-over-data-

breach/.

Kozlowska, Hanna, and Hanna Kozlowska. “Facebook Steamrolled over the Cambridge

Analytica Scandal, Posting Another Record Quarter.” Quartz, Quartz, 25 Apr. 2018,

qz.com/1262254/facebook-earnings-if-money-is-the-only-thing-that-matters-facebook-is-

doing-more-than-fine/.

McKenzie, Sheena. “Facebook's Zuckerberg Says Sorry in Full-Page Newspaper Ads.” CNN,

Cable News Network, 25 Mar. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/europe/facebook-

zuckerberg-cambridge-analytica-sorry-ads-newspapers-intl/index.html.