Tag: Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to clarify his controversial comments about Holocaust deniers Wednesday afternoon, hours after he was quoted saying some deniers who post on Facebook aren't "intentionally getting it wrong."

Social media duo says Facebook algorithms are still blocking their content. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The number one network in cable, FNC…

NBC sat in on a focus group with some voters in Wisconsin who for the most part, when asked whether the government should regulate social media companies, didn't seem to care. Roger McNamee, an early Facebook and Google Investor, disagrees:…

It is now six weeks since the Cambridge Analytica scandal rocked Facebook. Potential sea change — in the sense that Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problem was only the most visible example of a much broader and deeper phenomenon. The core business model of many tech firms is monetizing the data they collect from users — not only for themselves but also for selling on to others. But there is a powerful political dynamic right below the surface: The more visible and widely understood the tech business model of monetizing user-generated data becomes, the more people will be upset about it — and the more likely government will try to respond through some sort of regulation (even if the regulation is misguided, ineffective or both). Facebook and Google are so big that there is a plausible prima facie argument that they can no longer be regulated by market forces; the government will have to step in. Given that their core business model is monetizing information on the behavior of users, the concern is about 21st century consumer protection on an unprecedented scale. Consumer protection is different from regulating tech firms like media companies (the other oft-cited “existential risk” to tech). Big advantages to tech companies that can demonstrate a history of taking data and privacy concerns more seriously, and/or whose business doesn’t rely heavily on monetizing user data. Big challenges for other industries that combine high tech with using personal data to drive the business — and hence where consumer protection looms large. Facebook/Cambridge Analytica swallowed all the media headlines because of its tie-in with Trump/Russia.

Seth Meyers' monologue from Tuesday, May 1. » Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth » Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ » Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers Weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC. LATE NIGHT ON SOCIAL Follow Late Night on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LateNightSeth…

Seth's favorite jokes from the week of April 9. » Subscribe to Late Night: http://bit.ly/LateNightSeth » Get more Late Night with Seth Meyers: http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/ » Watch Late Night with Seth Meyers Weeknights 12:35/11:35c on NBC. LATE NIGHT ON SOCIAL Follow Late Night…

It was a show designed to get Zuckerberg off the hook after only a few hours in Washington DC. Each senator was given less than five minutes for questions. We shouldn’t be begging for Facebook’s endorsement of laws, or for Mark Zuckerberg’s promises of self-regulation The worst moments of the hearing for us, as citizens, were when senators asked if Zuckerberg would support legislation that would regulate Facebook. Facebook is a known behemoth corporate monopoly. We shouldn’t be begging for Facebook’s endorsement of laws, or for Mark Zuckerberg’s promises of self-regulation. Some of the hearing seemed designed to figure out whether Zuckerberg is a good or bad man, or whether he has a good or bad – or bizarre – political philosophy. That doesn’t make him that interesting as the CEO of a corporate monopoly; it makes him a run-of-the-mill robber baron. There is so much we don’t know about Facebook. Now that the initial show trial is done, we need the real deal, one where no senator gets cut off after a few minutes. The real hearing would allow for unlimited questions from each of our senators, who represent millions of people.

Today in 5 Lines Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein reportedly signed off on the FBI’s raid of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, on Monday. Agents reportedly targeted records about payments to women who claim they had affairs with Trump. During a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that Trump “certainly has the power” to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In his testimony before a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is working with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but said he was "not aware" if it had been issued a subpoena. Vice President Mike Pence will attend the Summit of Americas meeting in his stead. White House Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert resigned. David Frum argues it’s a good strategy. Michael Cohen Has a Problem: The evidence federal prosecutors have concerning President Trump’s personal lawyer is most likely extraordinarily strong. (Adam Serwer) ‘A House You Can Buy, But Never Own’: Alana Semuels describes a new predatory loan scheme targeting African Americans. The problem is they usually don’t.

Today in 5 Lines The FBI raided the office of President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, and seized records related to several topics, including payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Federal investigators also reportedly searched his home and hotel room. Trump condemned the suspected chemical attack in Syria as a “barbaric act” and said he will make a decision on the U.S. response within the next 24 to 48 hours. Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he will run for U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met privately with several lawmakers on Capitol Hill ahead of his planned testimony before a joint session of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on Tuesday, followed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Today on The Atlantic ‘They’re Desperate to Keep This Email Hush-Hush’: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt denied knowing about salary increases given to two of his top aides. But an email exchange suggests otherwise. (Elaina Plott) A Bit of Self-Criticism: Conor Friedersdorf argues that The Atlantic’s firing of conservative writer Kevin Williamson represents a failure of tolerance. (Franklin Foer) Snapshot What We’re Reading Expect an Expensive Race: Florida Governor Rick Scott announced that he’s launching a bid to unseat Democratic Senator Bill Nelson.

Almost 90 million Facebook users from Los Angeles to London may have had their online information illegally collected by Cambridge Analytica as part of its work for Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Mark Zuckerberg, the social networking giant’s chief executive, will testify to U.S. lawmakers this week over claims that the tech giant played fast and loose in its protection of people’s online privacy. Do people using such websites really understand that they are, in fact, data-gathering strategies by the country’s leading political parties? Just as Facebook, YouTube and other popular digital services offered people apparently “free” goodies in return for their personal information, lawmakers have realized that they too can use similar smartphone-friendly tactics to (legitimately) gather data on potential voters. Privacy campaigners — and, increasingly, the general public — have raised hackles about how much data many of the world’s largest tech companies now hold on all of our digital habits. But to play, people had to hand over a raft of personal information, including their cellphone numbers and addresses, as well as complete an online survey about Brexit, which was then used by Vote Leave’s data experts to hone their political targeting tactics. As part of the Trump and Vote Leave campaign apps, which functioned as quasi-social networks, people were asked to fill in personal information, including their phone numbers and, in the U.S., voter registration information. “It’s about people coming back to the app.” Neither the Trump or Vote Leave campaigns were the only ones to use such digital tactics to woo voters into handing over personal information. If anything, the recent Facebook data scandal has taught us is that nothing in the digital world is free. The same also goes for politics.