Mark Zuckerberg apologises for ‘major breach of trust
22 Mar 2018
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, under fire for helping a political consultancy in developing voter profiles based on users in the US and the UK, has asserted he would not repeat it in next year’s elections in India.
The Facebook boss also apologised for “a major breach of trust,” and said he was “really sorry this happened.” The world’s top social media network is facing problems after a whistle-blower claimed that Cambridge Analytica, a London-based political consultancy, accessed user information from Facebook to develop profiles of American voters, which was then used to help Donald Trump win the presidential elections in 2016.
“This was a major breach of trust,” Zuckerberg told CNN in an interview. “I’m really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people’s data.”
Referring to mid-term elections in the US in November and general elections in India in 2019, he said he was committed to not interfere in elections.
Zuckerberg said he wasn’t sure about regulation. “I actually think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than yes or no, should it be regulated?” he said. “People should know who is buying the ads that they see on Facebook.”
The company has over $45 billion on the stock markets over the past three days, as investors were worried that failure to protect personal data would prevent advertisers from spending money on it and could also invite tough regulations.