If Facebook and Google don’t fix their problems, advertising execs say they could go somewhere else

I’m franking horrified by Facebook’s argument regarding user privacy when they testified in court a few weeks ago:

Does posting, even to a small group of friends, on social media mean that a user is forfeiting all expectation of privacy? Yes, Facebook argues:

There is no privacy interest, because by sharing with a hundred friends on a social media platform, which is an affirmative social act to publish, to disclose, to share ostensibly private information with a hundred people, you have just, under centuries of common law, under the judgment of Congress, under the SCA, negated any reasonable expectation of privacy. The judge pushed back, suggesting that if a user had painstakingly tweaked her privacy settings so that only a tight-knit group could see her posts, it would be a privacy violation if “Facebook actually disseminated the photographs and the likes and the posts to hundreds of companies.” But Snyder didn’t budge, suggesting that sharing any information with even one human being negates an expectation of privacy.

I think advertising execs are right to be concerned. The potential for user backlash or government crackdown is very real for such a policy stance, and this is just one of their problems. Censorship, misinformation, and online harassment have become major issues as well.

/r/stocks Thread