FACEBOOK: TOP 5 BIGGEST SOCIAL NETWORK SCANDALS
With over one billion active users, Facebook is considered the largest social network in the world. After acquiring the rights to Instagram and Whatsapp, the platform has become one of the most powerful tools on the globe for gaining insider information about its users. And scandals revolve around just that: information acquired without users knowing it, data manipulation, and poor transparency in their actions. Check out the Top 5 of the platform’s practices that have become scandals.
1. Phantom Profile
Spread out as a “ghost profile,” the tactic is to use Facebook user information, such as a phone number, to create something like a profile draft for those who have not yet registered with the network. This way, as soon as the person signs up, friends from your social circle will already appear as a friend-suggestion.
2. Conversation Recording
Also, in 2019, the platform admitted recording voice conversations between users, claiming the practice was approved. Still, there was no explanation of why and how these recordings were used.
3. Poor Transparency
Another controversy surrounding the name of Facebook is the recent allegations of partiality of the platform. In the United Kingdom, people opposed to Brexit argued that the circulation of fake news on Facebook determined in the 2016 vote. However, although there is a filter, it is not necessarily known how it works.
4. Explicit Violence
In Brazil, a typical case about the lack of control tools was the death of Fabiane Maria de Jesus. Even if it was false news, after being mistaken for a child abductor, the woman had the video of her beating being viral on the social network, which raised broad discussion about violent content that circulates freely on the platform. Which leads to the last topic:
5. Problematic moderation
Some publications need to be manually evaluated to identify what type of content it is, even to create a reliable database for automatic filtering. It turns out that the employees hired for this function are exposed to hours of all kinds of violence, lacking psychological assistance, preparation, or an adequate salary.
