ERRORS OF FACEBOOK

The electoral fraud committed by Cambridge Analytica in the elections of USA 2016, could not have been perpetrated without the data obtained from Facebook, about the personality of 87 million North American voters. The business of Facebook, like that of Google or Twitter, operates as follows: these platforms earn money by selling advertising; this in principle is reasonable, because the user receives a free service that costs billions of dollars to develop, in exchange for which Facebook allows advertisers to send customized advertising. So there is equity. Zuckerberg, after his appearance before the American Congress, by virtue of the global scandal that was formed, said that: "it allows advertisers to tell what kind of audience they want to reach and it is Facebook itself who places the advertising, without the data change hands. " Zuckerberg in relation to the worldwide scandal of the data admitted that he was wrong, it was a big mistake.

FUENTE

For three years Facebook had known that these data had been diverted, but did not initiate any investigation and until March 2018, it had not suspended the accounts of Cambrigde Analytica and Professor Kogan who obtained the data for academic purposes, but that later He sold it to CA. The issue is that this inappropriate use of the information allowed CA to place individualized advertising, so that the data changed hands. In addition, the people of Facebook, during the elections, could suppose the manipulation on the electorate and the advantage that it gave to Trump, but they kept quiet and did not say anything.

The issue is that Facebook knows you better than anyone. Let's see why: 10 "I like" is enough for algorithms to define someone's personality better than their co-workers.150 "I like" they manage to define us better than our parents, and 300 define us better than our partner. But also, photos, shared messages and sent messages, define us better than "I like". So we can imagine the huge weapon of manipulation that these platforms have on us. As we know, personality is a combination of thoughts, behaviors and feelings. It is illegal for advertisers to address us based on our personality; what is not illegal is that they are directed according to our interests. The legal prohibition is healthy and convenient, but it seems that it was legislated at a time when the advertising companies could not decipher our personality. The dilemma now is how to preserve ourselves from a "laser-directed" advertising bombardment if these companies already have the technology. Seen like this, we are defenseless against the persuasive power of this great machinery. For the interests of Facebook, the important thing has been to overstate their conditions of use and to forget something as important as the reasonable expectation of the user.

FUENTE

The truth is that people find on the platform a meeting place with friends, but it is assumed as a private space, as if we were going to the house of the other, not as if we were walking through a public square. Then we must respect this expectation of the people, not violate it by commercializing it. What the international community should propose is to regulate these social networks and limit their reach on people, something not so simple or easy; as verified during the hearings in Congress. There the ignorance of the operation of the networks, on the part of the congressmen, became patent during the appearance of Zuckerberg. Now he was summoned to appear in the European Parliament. Hopefully the legislators prepare better. Meanwhile, Facebook's policy to fight against the false news detected by its algorithms is not to eliminate them, but to reduce their visibility. Something more effective should happen.