Blog #7: I'm Sorry, or Am I?

 Founded in 2004 by then sophomore Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook quickly turned into one of the worlds most valuable businesses as it initiated arguably the greatest social invention in history: social media. Over the years, Facebook has continued to grow and in 2021 boasts a user base of over 2.91 billion, with over 3.51 billion using at least one of the company's products (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger) (Statista). Having such a large consumer base, Facebook possesses a great deal of power over its users, maintaining the ability to influence their suggested content and dictate which information is deemed "appropriate" or "true" on the site. As a social media company, Facebook retains the right to its consumer's data and uses it to make more informed decisions on how to advertise to target consumers and alter their feed for more applicable and desired content. 

However, in recent years, Facebook has come under intense political and social fire for allegedly selling user data to third party business. This practice is not unknown in the market. In fact, over 43% of marketing companies sell user data (InfoWorld). In some aspects this practice is illegal, though as a result of some company's smaller sizes they are able to escape large scale litigation. But, because of Facebook's immense size and influence, people took great interest in their breach of consumer trust and as a result, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company in 2018. 

Throughout and following the scandal, Facebook, as well as Mark Zuckerberg, was subject to public scrutiny and in an attempt to mitigate societal perceptions of the company, they attempted to apologize for their prior actions. In March of 2018, Zuckerberg posted a long statement to his Facebook page discussing the company's failure to uphold their consumers' trust. Not only this, but Zuckerberg assured that Facebook would remain completely complaint with General Data Protection Regulations (CDPR) (CNBC). 

However, Facebook's apologies fall short with more and more scandals coming to light in the following years, such as a lawsuit filed in 2021 regarding anti-trust laws in conjunction with the company's prioritization of profits over user mental health and wellbeing (New York Times). As a result, obviously Facebook's frequent apologies and subsequent promises of reform are lackluster and untrustworthy. Thus, the company should focus on crafting a major, well written apology, targeted to the public promising real, tangible and measurable change in an attempt to regain the public's trust and increase their profits.