You may be one of the many Facebook users across the country who logged into their account last week, only to be notified their information may have been misused by the app, “This is Your Digital Life.”
This app, which the notification informed users was used by one of their Facebook friends, siphoned information from public user profiles and shared it with Cambridge Analytica, “a political data firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign,” according to an article published by The New York Times.
The notification, titled “Protecting your Information,” apologized for the breach in privacy stating, “there is more work to do, but we are committed to confronting abuse and to putting you in control of your privacy.” It also informed the people subject to this data breach that the information improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica was limited to public profile information like birthdays and page likes, “in most cases.”
In most cases.
So, in some cases, other private information may have been shared? It’s hard to tell. But, all we know is that information was shared without the public’s knowledge or consent until after the fact.
This notification was not sporadic, but rather the result of a mistake made by Facebook and its Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg. But, this isn’t the first mistake in a string of prior apologies Zuckerberg has made over the course of several years.
Last week, Zuckerberg traveled to Washington to visit Congress, who questioned Facebook’s agenda, its role in digital media and whether or not it should be more heavily regulated. The meeting is what The New York Times called a “public grilling before congress.” And that it was.
Lawmakers were nothing short of skeptical — a response well justified, but also questionable.
Although Zuckerberg thoroughly deserved the so-called “grilling,” it is concerning lawmakers, who are known to be much less digitally native than millennials — the vast majority of Facebook users — are asking the questions.
According to the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of millennials, ranging from age 18 to 33, are Facebook users. Millennials are also considered to be digital natives, or the only generation to have grown up with new technologies they haven’t had to adapt to, according to the Pew Research Center.
Because of this, it becomes easier to question the legitimacy of questions posed by Congress, most of which are in the age range known to be less digitally native.
But, the blame isn’t just on these lawmakers — it’s on Zuckerberg, too.
‘Sorry’ becomes just a word when used countless times — it is time we see some action.
The problem, however, does not end with Congress or Zuckerberg’s seemingly never-ending apologies.
It ends with us.
It’s up to us to decide what we want to disclose on the internet. Take a minute and review your social media profiles and decide what you wish to expose to the world — you never know what Zuckerberg and his team could apologize for next.
We, as digital natives and active Facebook users, have a right to our own privacy and we have a right to decide where we want our information to go.
This is why it is up to us, as millennials and as avid social media users, to take a proactive approach to Facebook.
— SC