Zuckerberg continues bid to rebuild trust
AT FACEBOOK’S annual developer conference, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to the social networking platform, including a function that allows users to delete information Facebook has gathered on them – and a dating tool.
Taking on a more sombre and forceful tone than in previous years, Zuckerberg on Tuesday tried to bolster Facebook’s commitment to privacy and building community. He said users should have the ability to delete the browsing history Facebook collects, much in the way that browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome allow people to clear their tracking cookies.
Zuckerberg’s appearance at the conference, called F8, follows a month during which he has tried to rebuild public trust in Facebook after a data privacy scandal. In March, Facebook revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a political marketing firm used by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, had improperly obtained the personal information of 87 million users. That prompted an outcry that Facebook was mishandling data.
The ability to delete browsing history gives users some element of control over the information Facebook gathers on them and brings the company more in line with its competitors’ policies. Google and Apple allow users to permanently delete their browsing and search histories from its servers. Like Facebook, though, Google says its services will perform worse without the data it uses to, for instance, help users auto-complete their searches.
Research suggests that clearing cookies, tiny bits of software that advertising companies load on a browser to collect data on the websites people visit, is one of the few privacy-protection steps that have been embraced by US internet users.
Almost 60% of Americans have cleared their cookies or their browser history, according to a 2016 study from the Pew Research Center. Many delete them not for privacy but because doing so makes web pages load more quickly.
Facebook’s tracking cookie works differently from other ad networks in that it exists in the form of the Facebook “like” button. People can click on the button on different websites, and the content they liked will appear in the news feeds of their Facebook friends, and displays other users who have “liked” the content.
Such changes to Facebook’s privacy practices have not quieted its critics.
Zuckerberg introduced several new products. The one that garnered the most attention was the dating app. Zuckerberg said Facebook should be in the business of bringing people together in new ways. He told a story of being stopped on the street by married couples who had met through Facebook, and said he wanted to make a more deliberate effort to bring couples together.