Facebook is the biggest social media company and advertising platform and data tracker in the world.
The CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg is apologizing again when he testifies in blockbuster hearings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday about the misuse of Facebook user data. Zuckerberg said ‘But it’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well,’ according to Zuckerberg’s prepared testimony.
‘That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy.’
He continued: ‘We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.
‘So now we have to go through every part of our relationship with people and make sure we’re taking a broad enough view of our responsibility,’ he pledged.
‘There’s no question that we should have spotted Russian interference earlier.’
But,This is not the first time he apologized, Mark Zuckerberg made “sorry” his slogan. Let’s have a look on his previous Sorries:
After creating Facemash, a Harvard hot-or-not site.
“This is not how I meant for things to go and I apologize for any harm done as a result of my neglect.”
- September 2006: After introducing News Feed.
“We really messed this one up…. We did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them.”
- December 2007: After launching Beacon.
“We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it. … People need to be able to explicitly choose what they share. ”
- February 2009: After unveiling new terms of service that angered users. “Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments. … Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues.”
- May 2010: After reporters found a privacy loophole allowing advertisers to access user identification. “Sometimes we move too fast.… We will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. ”
- November 2011: After Facebook reached a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission for deceiving consumers about privacy. “I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. … Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us and we have led the internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share. ”
- December 2016: After criticism of the role of Facebook in spreading fake news about political candidates.
“I think of Facebook as a technology company, but I recognize we have a greater responsibility than just building technology that information flows through.… Today we’re making it easier to report hoaxes. ”
- April 2017: After a Cleveland man posted a video of himself killing 74-year-old Robert Godwin Sr.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Robert Godwin Sr., and we have a lot of work — and we will keep doing all we can to prevent tragedies like this from happening.”
- September 2017: While revealing a nine-step plan to stop nations from using Facebook to interfere in one another’s elections, noting that the amount of “problematic content” found so far is “relatively small.”
“I care deeply about the democratic process and protecting its integrity. … It is a new challenge for internet communities to deal with nation states attempting to subvert elections. But if that’s what we must do, we are committed to rising to the occasion. ”
- September 2017: After continued criticism about the role of Facebook in Russian manipulation of the 2016 election.
“For the ways my work has been used to divide rather than to bring us together, I ask for forgiveness and I will work to do better.”
- January 2018: Announcing his personal challenge for the year is to fix Facebook.
“We won’t prevent all mistakes or abuse, but we currently make too many errors enforcing our policies and preventing misuse of our tools. … This will be a serious year of self-improvement and I’m looking forward to learning from working to fix our issues together.”
- March 2018: After details emerged about Cambridge Analytica taking user data.
“We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you. … We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward. ”
- April 2018: In prepared comments for his congressional testimony.
“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry.… There’s more we can do here to limit the information developers can access and put more safeguards in place to prevent abuse. ”