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Mark Zuckerberg AWOL From Facebook's Data Leak Damage Control Session (thedailybeast.com)

Posted by msmash on from the where's-mark dept.

An anonymous reader writes: It's not just that he's silent in public. Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg declined to face his employees on Tuesday to explain the company's role in a widening international scandal over the 2016 election. Facebook employees on Tuesday got the opportunity for an internal briefing and question-and-answer session about Facebook's role with the Trump-aligned data firm Cambridge Analytica. It was the first the company held to brief and reassure employees after, ahead of damaging news reports, Facebook abruptly suspended Cambridge Analytica. But Zuckerberg himself wasn't there, The Daily Beast has learned. Instead, the session was conducted by a Facebook attorney, Paul Grewal, according to a source familiar with the meeting. That was the same approach the company used on Capitol Hill this past fall, when it sent its top attorney, Colin Stretch, to brief Congress about the prevalence of Russian propaganda, to include paid ads and inauthentic accounts, on its platform. Further reading: Where in the world is Mark Zuckerberg? Frustrated Facebook execs are asking.

9 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. Send in the attorneys, not the clowns . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you don't appear . . . and don't answer questions . . . you don't commit perjury.

    Hey, even a US government IRS employee refused to testify in front of Congress. Of course, Zuck just sent his lawyer.

    He's not going to say anything in public or on the record until his legal team has sorted their strategy out.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Send in the attorneys, not the clowns . . . by quantaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you don't appear . . . and don't answer questions . . . you don't commit perjury.

      Hey, even a US government IRS employee refused to testify in front of Congress. Of course, Zuck just sent his lawyer.

      He's not going to say anything in public or on the record until his legal team has sorted their strategy out.

      There's also a big PR aspect.

      Zuckerberg, as the founder and CEO, is a very big part of Facebook's brand. And keeping him as a likeable trustworthy figure means that people are more likely to trust the company as a whole.

      Zuckerberg on camera talking about FB related scandals leaves an impression that Zuckerberg personally knew and approved of the scandal causing behaviour, and that leaves a much bigger mark on FB's reputation.

      It's much better to have some non-identifiable lawyer or PR person speak on behalf of FB, then it seems like this was just some rogue group or misguided executive. Zuckerberg might have to step in eventually, but they're probably better off protecting his reputation.

      --
      I stole this Sig
  2. 2016? by ArhcAngel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it a scandal when a company is working for a conservative/GOP candidate but not even a story when it isn't. This type of data collection has been going on for years.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
    1. Re:2016? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is it a scandal when a company is working for a conservative/GOP candidate but not even a story when it isn't.

      Because the mainstream media, Obama and Clinton were all fellow travelers. From their perspective, it's only wrong if it's being done by someone you disagree with.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    2. Re:2016? by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why is it a scandal when a company is working for a conservative/GOP candidate but not even a story when it isn't. This type of data collection has been going on for years.

      For the same reason that anytime the word "email" came up in conjunction with Clinton it became a major news story but historically stories related to record retention or classified information barely made a blip.

      It feeds into the narrative. Right now voter manipulation by Russia, particularly over the Internet, is a big story. And Cambridge Analytica is actually under suspicion as a possible link between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives.

      Any story involving voter manipulation, the Internet, and Cambrige Analytica is going to be big news.

      --
      I stole this Sig
  3. "strategy".... by gDLL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And by strategy you mean "narrative"...

  4. Trump Aligned by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That company is used by a TON of other companies and entities, just because they also happened to be employed by Trump at the time, doesn't mean that they haven't done the same for countless others, even people on the other side of the aisle. The blatant politicization of EVERYTHING is getting so fricking annoying. Soon every breath you take will be analyzed to see if it "leans to the left, or the right, politically speaking".

  5. Re:Defend the undefendable by amicusNYCL · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's kind of telling when your company needs to do a "damage control session" because the public finally figured out what your business model is.

    Here's a hint: if there's a company with a market cap of almost $500 billion, and you don't know what their product is, you're probably the product. Cambridge Analytica is the customer, they buy you.

    I would be more interested in hearing about what data they actually got and what they paid for it, I want to know more about that market value.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  6. Re:Defend the undefendable by sycodon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The allowed Obama to do it and didn't bat an eyelid.

    So Big Data for Oabama, Good.

    Big Data for Trump, Bad (even though he didn't even use it in the general campaign...RNC data was more accurate).

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.