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Facebook product manager Chris Cox announced that he would leave the company as it would move towards a more privacy-focused model. Although the departure is a surprise for some, a new report suggests that it is the disagreements between Cox and his CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, on the new projects of the company.
Quoting several people close to the case, the New York Times reported that Cox, who had helped build Facebook's news feed, was concerned that the "Unified Messaging" project and several other product ideas and changes to Zuckerberg do not work. Cox disagreed with Zuckerberg's changes and finally resigned earlier this week.
The Facebook executive seemed to hint at the disagreement between the two in his farewell message, which was published publicly on his page.
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"As Mark has indicated, we are turning a new page in the direction of our product, focused on an encrypted and interoperable email network," wrote Cox. "It's a product vision just like today's topic: a modern communication platform that balances expression, security, protection and privacy. It will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction come to fruition. "
In addition to the departure of Cox, who according to some was a successor to Zuckerberg, WhatsApp president Chris Daniels also leaves.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
Changes in confidentiality
Earlier this month, Zuckerberg announced a radical change in Facebook's operation, stating that the future of social networking giant would be more private conversations and less public broadcasting. The changes are a concerted effort to eliminate many of the problems he has experienced in recent months, including the harmful use by Russian trolls to influence the 2016 US presidential election.
"Frankly, we do not currently have a solid reputation for creating privacy protection services, and we've always focused on tools for more open sharing," wrote Zuckerberg in an article in blog, announcing the changes. "But we've shown time and time again that we can evolve to create the services people really want, including messaging and private stories."
The tech giant in Menlo Park, California, still feels the shock waves of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, as well as the aforementioned situation with Russia and many other breaches of privacy. As a result of these deficiencies, calls were made for regulations that would make businesses more accountable when they improperly expose the information of their users.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democratic presidential candidate, has been up to suggest that she would break Facebook (in addition to Amazon, Alphabet and Apple), stating that "it takes to prevent this generation of big tech companies from putting their political power at stake. " shape the rules in their favor and bring into play their economic power to stifle or buy all potential competitors. "
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As part of its efforts, Zuckerberg has announced plans to consolidate its Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram messaging services so that users can contact each other via any application.
"We want to give people a choice so that they can reach their friends through these networks since the application of their choice," Zuckerberg said in his message. "We plan to allow you to send messages to your contacts first through one of our services, and then extend that interoperability to SMS." Of course, this would be an option and you can keep your accounts separate if you wish. "
However, critics said they were not convinced that Zuckerberg is really committed to making significant changes.
"This does not solve the targeting of ads and the collection of information about individuals," said Associate Press Jen King, director of consumer privacy protection at the Internet and Society Center. from Stanford Law School. "It's great for your relationship with others – it does not matter for your relationship with Facebook itself."
Zuckerberg's move is also seen as a strategy to mitigate any potential antitrust action against the social network.
Shane Green, US CEO of digi.me, a data privacy app, says the Facebook leader is keen to block any attempt to regulate the social network. "Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that Facebook will begin adopting the privacy and encryption of its applications is another effort to save time and keep regulators at the door," he said in a statement. release sent to Fox News.
Green adds, however, that Zuckerberg's plan does not solve the real problem, namely Facebook's business model. "When revenues are based on the possession and exploitation of user data, it is misleading to suggest that these measures will make a difference and eliminate the damage done to users," he explained. .
Attila Tomaschek, digital privacy expert at BestVPN.com, said Facebook's announcement was a step in the right direction.
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"The timeline for Facebook's move towards a privacy-focused approach will likely be measured in years rather than weeks or months, but the move is nonetheless encouraging," he said in a statement. a statement sent to Fox News. "The announcement of Zuckerberg shows that he is ready to make all the advertising and financial sacrifices necessary to realize his vision of a more private social network platform."
James Rogers of the Associated Press and Fox News contributed to this report.
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