After finally apologizing for the Cambridge Analytica data breach nearly a week after the scandal broke, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg went on an apology tour of sorts with various media outlets on Wednesday. One of these was the New York Times, with whom the young CEO did a rare interview to talk about the data breach, its contentious effects on the 2016 presidential election, and what it might mean for the upcoming midterms. When the Times‘s Kevin Roose asked Zuckerberg about the revitalized #DeleteFacebook movement, however, the apologist worryingly admitted “it’s not good.”
Roose, who specifically asked Zuckerberg if he was “worried” about it, inquired if the company had “seen meaningful numbers of people deleting their accounts” in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Zuckerberg said he hadn’t, but that didn’t mean everything was hunky-dory:
“I don’t think we’ve seen a meaningful number of people act on that, but, you know, it’s not good. I think it’s a clear signal that this is a major trust issue for people, and I understand that. And whether people delete their app over it or just don’t feel good about using Facebook, that’s a big issue that I think we have a responsibility to rectify.”
Even so, as another Times article pointed out on Wednesday, the #DeleteFacebook hashtag was becoming increasingly popular on rival social media platform Twitter and others like it. From singer Cher to WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, whose company was acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014, many were calling for its total abandonment after the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
(Via New York Times)