[ad_1]
Facebook has been hacked, and to put it mildly, it's really, really bad.
On Friday, the social network revealed that the hacking that he had revealed for the first time last week had affected 30 million users and that 14 million of them had highly personal data, including locations, history of research, status of relationship, gender and more exposed.
This is a catastrophic security flaw, exposing potentially compromising information about users, likely to put victims at risk of identity theft – and that could not have been worse for Facebook .
The terrible year of Facebook may trigger a regulatory action
In case you have not noticed, the last year of Facebook has been sweet, not so good.
The Silicon Valley society has gone from one scandal to another, just recovering from one event to another. First, it was used to spread misinformation and Russian propaganda during the 2016 elections. Then he was involved in the genocide by spreading hate speech in Myanmar. Next, the Cambridge Analytica political studies firm has turned out to have embezzled 87 million user data. And so on.
Against this backdrop of blatant mistakes, politicians and regulators are increasingly discussing the possibility of regulation targeting Facebook and other tech giants. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), known for his outspokenness on technical issues, called on Congress to take action.
"With every new invasion of privacy, it is becoming increasingly clear that Congress needs to put in place safeguards for social media platforms to protect consumer data while encouraging American innovation ", he told Business Insider.
At the Facebook F8 conference last April, it seemed like the worst was behind the company and Mark Zuckerberg tried to turn a page. But this recent hacking shows that Facebook's problems have caught up with it once again – and that the likelihood that its woes will turn into a spark that triggers a new wave of regulation has further increased.
Facebook is also already declining
But Facebook also faces another, more insidious problem: it loses control of its users.
The growth of Facebook's main application is flat in the United States and is falling in Europe. In general, the time spent by the users of the application decreases.
In a recent research note, John Blackledge, a Cowen analyst, pointed out that the average daily time spent on Facebook has dropped significantly over the past year, as other applications grew.
It is too early to tell if the hacking will have an impact on the time spent in the basic Facebook application, but this seems unlikely, even though initial reactions to Friday's revelations have been furious.
And it seems likely that the news will further exacerbate attitudes towards Facebook among people who are not yet registered in the social network, making it even more difficult the possibility of further growth.
The new Facebook star is Instagram, whose audience (and time spent on the platform) is increasing even with the decline of Facebook. Until now, it has remained largely uncontaminated by scandals and Facebook's increasingly radioactive brand.
Will Facebook's recent hacking change that? We do not know yet – but that would complicate a delicate transition period for the company, especially since Facebook is expected to more closely integrate Instagram after the brutal departure of its two co-founders following clashes reported with CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In short: a security breach of this magnitude would be a disaster for any business. But for Facebook, it's like he's trying to turn a corner, but to put his head first in a brick wall.
Do you have a tip? Contact this reporter via Signal or WhatsApp at +1 (650) 636-6268 using a phone other than the office, send an e-mail to [email protected], WeChat to robaeprice or Twitter DM to @robaeprice. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.
[ad_2]
Source link
