Facebook faced a weekend full of backlash following reports of an enormous data breach that led 50 million accounts to be harvested by Cambridge Analytica, the tech firm used by Donald Trump’s election campaign in an effort to influence the 2016 election. The news was a bad look, for sure, with former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wiley admitting that the company exploited users’ perceived “inner demons,” and Facebook responded by banning Wiley from the platform. To add to Zuckerberg’s woes, the scandal has seemingly sent Facebook stock on a downswing.
Business Insider reports that Monday isn’t looking good for the social media juggernaut, at least as far as pre-market trading goes:
Facebook’s share price has dropped 4.05% in pre-market trading, likely thanks to the news that political research firm Cambridge Analytica used its site to harvest 50 million user profiles illegitimately.
According to Markets Insider, Facebook’s share price stands at $177.60 in pre-market trading, down from a $185.09 at close on Friday. The drop wipes around $21 million off Facebook’s market cap.
The news follows CNBC’s coverage of an analyst who advised stockholders to start selling because — even though Facebook has now banned Cambridge Analytica’s account — the data breach is “another indication of systemic problems at Facebook” on top of previously known slip-ups (including Russian fake news ads that reached 70 million Americans) by the platform.
For anyone who wishes to take data back into their own hands, TechCrunch makes the case for using a Google Chrome script to Delete Facebook from one’s life, including years-old data (that would still be “out there” if one simply freezes or closes their account). This isn’t a terrible idea, considering that a U.K. Parliament committee is angry at Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly misleading them over data breaches, and the Massachusetts attorney general is now investigating the matter. So, it’s safe to say that Facebook’s in quite a bind.
(Via Business Insider, CNBC & TechCrunch)