Facebook Emails Suggest CEO Knew of Problematic Practices
June 13 2019 - 6:19AM
Dow Jones News
By WSJ City
Facebook uncovered emails that appear to connect Chief Executive
Mark Zuckerberg to potentially problematic privacy practices at the
company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Within the company, the unearthing of the emails in the process
of responding to a continuing federal privacy investigation has
raised concerns that they would be harmful to Facebook -- at least
from a public-relations standpoint -- if they were to become
public, one of the people said.
KEY FACTS:
-- The emails suggest Facebook didn't make compliance with a 2012 FTC decree
a priority, the people said.
-- Under the order, Facebook agreed to better protect user privacy.
-- It couldn't be determined whether any of the emails reveal practices that
violated the 2012 accord.
-- It couldn't be determined exactly what emails the agency has requested
and how many of them relate to Zuckerberg.
-- The emails were described by people familiar with them but not reviewed
by WSJ.
"We have fully cooperated with the FTC's investigation to date
and provided tens of thousands of documents, emails and files. We
are continuing to work with them and hope to bring this matter to
an appropriate resolution...Facebook and its executives, including
Mark, at all times strive to comply with all applicable law, and at
no point did Mark or any other Facebook employee knowingly violate
the company's obligations under the FTC consent order," a Facebook
spokesperson said.
Context
The FTC investigation began more than a year ago after reports
that personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users improperly
wound up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that
worked on President Trump's 2016 campaign.
Why This Matters
The potential impact of the internal emails has been a factor in
the tech giant's desire to reach a speedy settlement of the
investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, one of the people
said. Any evidence that Zuckerberg was directly involved in a
potential failure on Facebook's part to honour the terms of its
consent decree could complicate efforts on both sides to resolve
the matter.
A fuller story is available on WSJ.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 13, 2019 06:04 ET (10:04 GMT)
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