‘Mark Zuckerberg’ has decided to apologize for the Facebook data leak on Weekend Update, but not really. As for the real Mark Zuckerberg he’s been on the list of people to revile lately since it was discovered that Facebook decided to up and grant Cambridge Analytica the personal data of its millions of users. And yet for all that it seems like his first initial reaction was to do anything but apologize. However that reaction has been quickly buried, or at least people have tried to, in order to show how Zuckerberg is actually attempting to do his best to secure the data of those using Facebook.
This breach of trust however is something that’s not bound to endear people to Facebook for a while. There will be those that won’t care since they don’t believe that they have any information that Facebook or anyone else can use against them or to target their interests in any way, but some have already decided to quite the social media giant and say good riddance. This skit of Zuckerberg acting like a jerk isn’t too far from the truth however, though it embellishes quite a bit. One thing that seems to happen to a lot of people that rise so high so quickly in business is that the disconnect that happens between them and the rest society takes effect almost immediately, allowing them to forget that the society that they still belong to and serve is just enough beneath their notice so that they can operate with a measure of impunity that is illusory at best. The truth is that when anyone gets this big and controls this much information that people willingly give over they have an even bigger responsibility to those that have decided to trust them. There is no backing out and whining about how it’s not their fault any longer, that the people willingly gave up their data. If someone is willing to trust you that much and your system betrays them then it’s time to stand up and take responsibility for it.
The one thing that has to be realized though is that unless Zuckerberg signed the order to allow Cambridge Analytica the right to take this information and do as they would with it, then it’s possible that he’s in the dark just as much as the rest of the populace. It could be that he was metaphorically sucker-punched and is now attempting to get back up and recover even as the stock price of his company continues to fall. Some people would actually say that Facebook has had it’s time much like MySpace before it, but right now Zuckerberg is doing what he can to make sure that his ship doesn’t capsize and ultimately sink. At the moment though public opinion is tossing that metaphorical craft around like a dinghy in a storm, just waiting to send it crashing to the bottom if something isn’t done soon.
It’ll be interesting to see if Facebook can weather the storm and right itself.
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