Oct 2, 2018
Facebook’s Privacy Push Is Sketchy, Here’s Why…
In July of 2018, Facebook announced that its revenue growth had slowed during the second quarter of 2018. It also said that it expects “declines to continue into the second half of the year” as the company works to improve its user privacy protection.
Following the announcement, Facebook’s stock “saw the biggest one-day drop in history,” losing $119 billion in value. According to MarketWatch, in July, “Facebook reported a drop of 3 million daily users in Europe since the first quarter”.
While the #deletefacebook movement seemed to dominate our Twitter and other social feeds, it seemed like it came and went without much impact. However, a survey by Tech.pinions, a tech and media research firm, found that around 9% of users deleted their accounts completely.
User Privacy Is Bad for Facebook…Maybe?
If user-privacy is such a big threat to Facebook’s business model, it makes no sense that they would be investing in better privacy protections for users’ information. The reason is that people are now sharing less information, and are more cautious about the information they hand over to Facebook.
So Facebook needs people to feel like their information is safe…
While Facebook could operate in its previous form, and continue to use all the information it collects from its users with little care for their security, it needs users to feel comfortable sharing information.
The Cambridge Analytica fiasco was a massive example of what can go wrong when carelessness is combined with millions of people’s information. Facebook’s latest breach involving another 50 million or more users is a sign that Facebook still hasn’t cleaned up its act.
False Privacy Could be Worse Than No Privacy At All
If Facebook completely revamps its privacy and data security practices, only to take advantage of the information it collects we may be worse off than before.
Imagine that suddenly people believe that Facebook is doing its best to protect all of its users’ information, private or not. As a result, people will likely be more willing to share even more information than before. Facebook isn’t investing in privacy because it believes in privacy and sees the value in its users being safe.
The company needs users to have a level of perceived security and privacy so they feel they can share the information that they once felt comfortable sharing. If Facebook and the company’s marketing can convince people they are safe, even if they aren’t we may end up in a worse place.
As the perceived level of security increases, people are willing to share more sensitive information. But it just raises the stakes for Facebook. Ultimately Facebook could take another big hit, if after “improving” their privacy they have another data breach. People’s trust will drop again, but even more because the data they’re using or losing control of is more sensitive.
Privacy Is Essential (And Possible)
The internet is supported in large part by ads. There’s no question about it. But where it becomes an issue is when using people’s information starts to become the priority over providing value and utility to those people.
If every website and service we use online is just a front for collecting user data, then what are we really getting? We become the product for advertisers, and not just users looking for information.
Read More: Is It Really Possible to Use the Internet Privately?
In this model, the internet may seem like a scary place, and at times it is. But with a little bit of effort and the right tools, protecting your identity and other private information is possible.
Thanks for reading and good luck!
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by + 374,357 people.
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