Looks like his team finally got back to them.
Almost two full months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dodged senators' questions about the Cambridge Analytica and Sport Archivesuser privacy scandals with the vague promise that someone would be in touch, the advertising giant made good on his pledge and provided a host of answers on topics ranging from Russian trolls to whether or not Facebook is a media company.
SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg says he's 'not familiar' with so-called shadow profilesThe 225-page PDF and separate 229-page PDF, comprising responses to both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, are a lot to wade through and will surely provide fodder for both Facebook's boosters and critics over the coming weeks and months. However, a few of the company's responses are immediately worth further examination — namely, that of the data Facebook collects on non-users and its possible monopoly status.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
When it comes to the first point, Facebook's response was mostly direct. Sen. Mazie Hirono, a democrat from Hawaii, asked about so-called shadow profiles, and whether or not the company creates them.
"We do not create profiles for non-Facebook users," responded the company, "nor do we use browser and app logs for non-Facebook users to show targeted ads from our advertisers to them or otherwise seek to personalize the content they see."
But, of course, the company does collect data on non-Facebook users — as even it admits in a rather long answer that seemingly wants to bore the reader into ignoring it.
When people visit apps or websites that feature our technologies—like the Facebook Like or Comment button—our servers automatically log (i) standard browser or app records of the fact that a particular device or user visited the website or app (this connection to Facebook’s servers occurs automatically when a person visits a website or app that contains our technologies, such as a Like button, and is an inherent function of Internet design); and (ii) any additional information the publisher of the app or website chooses to share with Facebook about the person’s activities on that site (such as the fact that a purchase was made on the site).
Facebook also wrote that a non-user can request a copy of whatever data Facebook has on them by filling out a request form.
Regarding Facebook's status as a monopoly, Sen. Amy Klobuchar rightly suggests that Facebook is in a class of its own.
"With more than two billion monthly active users, Facebook is by far the largest social networking platform on the internet," writes the Minnesota Democrat. "Some have called Facebook a monopoly and claimed that Facebook has no true competition. If a Facebook user living in the United States wanted to switch to a different online social networking platform, what are the top ten alternative social networking platforms available?"
In response, Facebook's team of lawyers — who we assume wrote all of this — muster a patently half-assed response: "In Silicon Valley and around the world, new social apps are emerging all the time."
The company then goes on to insist that it has plenty of competition, like Snapchat, DailyMotion, and Pinterest.
The fact that this is less than compelling is perhaps because, well, Facebook probably isa monopoly.
Clearly, with new scandals dropping almost daily, these combined 454 pages of questions and answers aren't the final word on Facebook. Thankfully for Mark Zuckerberg, his team of lawyers is waiting at the ready.
Topics Facebook Social Media Politics
Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop at record
The Honeymoon Package, or, an Internship Gone Awry
Marcel Proust’s Famous Madeleine Was Nearly a Biscotto
Floating Capital: A Tour of Levitating Businessmen in Literature
Seven Steam games whose reviews have changed a lot
Staff Picks: Stray Dogs, Stereographs, Pepsi Sex Floats by The Paris Review
The Perils of the Early Riser
The Honeymoon Package, or, an Internship Gone Awry
Useful or Little Known Android Features
Portrait of a Miniseries
5 Ways to Access a Locked Windows Account
Women in Crime: An Interview with Sarah Weinman
Brick Lit: On Judy Corbett’s Memoir “Castles in the Air”
Rimbaud in the Alps: A Harrowing, Beautiful Letter from 1878
Acupuncture for pets is on the rise
Why Do Fairy Tales Turn Old Women into Victims?
Read Our Interviews with Pevear & Volokhonsky, and Peter Cole
Guy Fawkes for Dummies
Mary Shows Up
Portable People: Short Fiction by the Late Paul West
Why is everyone using their phones in movie theaters?'The Shark Is Broken' review: 'Jaws' behind'The Last Voyage of the Demeter' review: A Dracula horror story at war with itselfHappy Birthday, Honoré de Balzac!Degenerate ArtThe Morning News Roundup for May 12, 2014Acrobats and Mountebanks10 of the best TikTok trends from 2021The Trouble With Being a “Plus One”Taylor Swift is the soundtrack of Summer TVTikTok lets creators label AIThe Birth (and Death) of Edward LearWordle today: Here's the answer and hints for August 1014 podcasts to teach kids about history, identity, and current eventsHappy Birthday, Thomas PynchonThe Morning News Roundup for May 14, 2014iOS 17 moves the button to end phone callsWordle today: Here's the answer and hints for August 11Black TikTok creators are 'striking' to protest uncredited viral dance trends5 TikTok accounts to follow if your houseplants are dying Whiting Awards 2016: Ocean Vuong, Poetry A Remembrance of Phife Dawg from His Cousin, Zinzi Clemmons Writers Are Always Spies and Voyeurs, Too Whiting Awards 2016: Alice Sola Kim, Fiction Listen to George Plimpton Interview Norman Mailer, 1998 University of Kansas Digitizes 1,000 Zines Nude Bookplates: Should They Exist? The Song Stuck in My Head by Sadie Stein On Morbid Sensitivity Whiting Awards 2016: Catherine Lacey, Fiction Paris Match: The Answers to Dylan Hicks’s Puzzle When Life Feels Like a Heavy Watch Gabrielle Bell Discuss Her Early Comics Watch: Sheila Heti on Writing Her First Story Collection An Indulgence of Authors’ Self An Excerpt from Blutch’s “Peplum,” a Graphic Novel Gone with the Mind: An Interview with Mark Leyner Whiting Awards 2016: Mitchell S. Jackson, Fiction Creepiest Pop Song Ever? Billy Jay Kramer’s “Little Children” Darwin’s Kids Doodled All Over the “Origin of Species” Manuscript
2.3722s , 8225.6171875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Sport Archives】,New Knowledge Information Network