Zuckerberg Dismisses Facebook Monopoly Concerns

Facebook chief Marker Zuckerberg appeared before the European Parliament on Tuesday, where he reiterated many of the points he has fabricated in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The meeting's format and time constraints meant the Facebook CEO had only most xxx minutes to answer questions that took at least that long for members to ask, irking some of those in attendance every bit the briefing drew to a shut. Zuckerberg did, notwithstanding, address several topics, including whether Facebook has a monopoly in the social-networking space, whether it discriminates against politically conservative content, and why information technology collects data on non-Facebook users.

When asked to name Facebook's top competitor, Zuckerberg failed to mention specific companies—but every bit he did when Sen. Lindsey Graham posed the aforementioned question during last month'southward US Senate hearings. Instead, he spoke more generally about how Facebook exists "in a very competitive space where people apply a lot of different tools" to communicate, repeating his talking betoken near how the average person uses viii apps or services to talk to friends and family.

"From where I sit, it feels like there are new competitors that come every day, and we're constantly needing to evolve our service."

He besides argued that Facebook is just 6 percent of the global advertisement market place, so "clearly advertisers have a lot of choice." Zuckerberg acknowledged that regulators are probable more than interested in the consumer choice attribute, though he pointed out that Facebook allows for small businesses to promote themselves in "sophisticated ways...that previously only large businesses had the means to do."

Whether this sways European regulators, at least i of whom brought up the idea that Facebook might demand to be broken up into smaller pieces, remains to exist seen. The region is a much more privacy-conscious environment than the United states of america, as evidenced by the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and at today's meeting, Zuckerberg was also pressed on Facebook'south tracking of non-users, often referred to as "shadow profiles."

Zuckerberg clearly didn't desire to discuss the topic. The format was such that members asked all their questions up front before having them answered by the Facebook CEO. He avoided discussing shadow profiles until the UK'south Syed Kamall shouted out the phrase as Zuckerberg was trying to wrap up.

Zuckerberg deflected and discussed Facebook's upcoming "Articulate History" feature, but that's for people who take a Facebook account.

When asked again why Facebook collects data on non-users and whether in that location was a style for them to erase the data Facebook had scooped up, Zuckerberg said collection of data on not-users was of import to keep tabs on people who scrape public Facebook data—like names and photos—for nefarious purposes. From the "security side," Facebook thinks it's "important to keep" that information, Zuckerberg ended before trying to modify the subject.

He did, however, accost whether Facebook discriminates against bourgeois viewpoints. The social network found itself in hot water in 2022 when it was accused of omitting right-leaning publications from its Trending Stories feed; ultimately, it replaced homo editors with algorithms, with mixed results.

Today, the UK's Nigel Farage—who made frequent appearances in back up of Donald Trump during the 2022 election—complained that traffic to his personal page, likewise as conservative sites and the US president, has seen a "substantial driblet."

Zuckerberg linked any drop in appointment to the visitor's recent decision to prioritize content from family and friends over that of Pages. "It's very important to me that we're a service that allows for a broad varitety of political soapbox," he said.

About Chloe Albanesius

Chloe has led PCMag's news coverage for more 10 years, editing and writing stories about the innovations that take shaped the terminal decade and the companies behind them. She also oversees the site's how-to coverage. Before joining PCMag.com, Chloe was a reporter covering tech policy on Capitol Loma for The National Journal'due south Technology Daily and fiscal It for Incisive Media in NYC. She's held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press role in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor'due south degree in journalism from American Academy in Washington, D.C.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/news/21233/zuckerberg-dismisses-facebook-monopoly-concerns

Posted by: kendallabroves.blogspot.com

Share this post