It’s Bigger Than Facebook.
There was something unsettling about watching Mark Zuckerberg tear up when asked how his daughters will perceive his contributions to the world (Facebook) in the future. Honestly, they probably won’t be using Facebook ..well, if Snap keeps going the direction it has, then they probably will… but let’s assume they do. Maybe they’ll be happy that he created a platform that was initially intended to do some good in the world — you know, connecting friends and families. Or, more than likely, they’ll probably remember the fact it devolved into an attention-sucking-ad-money-fueled-international-clickbait-epidemic that was exploited by the Russians and Cambridge Analytica executives (..same thing?) to sway elections around the world.
I’m half-joking, half-serious here. I do believe that Mark is a good guy trying to do some good things in the world. For the CEO of one of the most valuable public companies in the world to say he’d be open to regulations being imposed on his company, he must believe in his platform’s vision. However, I can’t help but find his inability to answer ‘Did Facebook impact the 2016 elections?’ question laughable since, before all, he is the CEO of Facebook. The reason they made $40 Billion dollars in 2017 is because it’s an effective place to get people to do shit that benefits you. Hell, the Russians accounted for .002% of the total amount spent in the US 2016 Presidential elections ($6.8 Billion) and they were able to get protesters out in the streets around the corner from my NYC apartment.
The bottom line is: Facebook is really f’in good at cashing in your social network and your friends’ influence to get you to do shit and spend money with their advertisers.
With all the attention on “the Zuck” lately, you’d think Facebook is the only place in town that was exploited and has your user data leaking worse than the Titanic (and by “Titanic”, I mean Equifax circa 2017). It’s not. Google and Twitter had their fair share of pretty big Russian exploits recently, too. There are also other platforms (and even entire digital ecosystems) that are just as vulnerable to the same levels of leakage and exploitation.
What underscores everything is the fundamental dynamic that powers this version of the Internet. It’s the same old adage that you’ve likely heard before that goes something like, “if it’s free, you are the product”. You — user of the Internet — are the digital currency. There’s a lot of success hungry 20-something and 30-something software engineers and data scientists employed to build algorithms and products that get you to do more of the things they want you to do. There’s a dozen multi-billion dollar businesses that in this very moment are tracking and analyzing your every move, and then selling that data or serving you an ad that makes you do something. There are literally thousands of large and small companies doing this, and many that you’ve never heard of. You are the reason why the Internet exists in its current form (free). Frankly, it’s the price you and I pay everyday for free content and media.
As we enter a Post-2016 Election world, we need tech leaders who can interface between government, industry and consumers to develop a new social contract on how/when/where your data is collected, processed, and stored. Europe pushed the ball forward with GDPR. It also would be really freakin’ nice if some of our politicians in the U.S. could check some very basic boxes when it comes to understanding how the Internet works, too.
Greater transparency and greater accountability needs to be placed at all levels of the digital ad ecosystem. I like to think that I do my part by vetting data partners and understanding thoroughly how they source and collect user data. At DeepIntent, we even built a political ad verification system at the end of last year (not intended to be a plug here at all). But, I have my doubts that everyone thinks like that when $$$$$$ is at play. After all, when you combine hundreds of soul-searching overcapitalized VC-funded companies that are starving for revenue with the fact that Facebook and Google (the Almighty Duopoly) are eating most of the food/ad spend on the table, morals may be loose and ripe for exploitation.
As I plan to commit myself to contributing free-thinking commentary on the latest around digital advertising and technology, I invite you to comment, share your opinions and rebut my thoughts.
TL;DR —you should expect more shake-ups like what we’re seeing now at Facebook, more data exploits, marginally better leadership than what we’re seeing today, and increasing urgency to get some real action in place to fix this issue.
