Why Facebook User Privacy & Mark Zuckerberg's Leadership Are The Biggest Tech Failures Of 2018

Let's face it: this year has been absolutely horrible for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's credibility. Disaster doesn't even begin to describe how Facebook has let all of its users down in 2018.

From privacy scandal to data breaches, from executive exits to public apologies, the scale of Facebook's problems this year have made 2016's Samsung Galaxy Note 7 disaster meek in comparison.

Reuters

ALSO READ: 10 Points That Show How Facebook Got Played And 50 Million Users Had Their Privacy Violated

The bad news just didn't stop for Facebook this year. All it took was the lid to blow up on Cambridge Analytica, as it opened a giant can of worms which Facebook is still struggling to deal with till now.

Not only did Facebook allow third-party companies to gather millions of user's private data (through apps on the social network), it didn't come clean about the extent of damage or staying ahead of the problem, always reacting to one setback from another as they trickled down throughout the year.

Reuters

ALSO READ: Dear Facebook, I Hate To Do This But There Are Some Things We Need To Talk About

And what about the lies? Mark Zuckerberg was forced to apologize publicly to save face, said the Cambridge Analytica scandal was from the past, that Facebook had fixed that loophole to protect user's privacy. ¡°We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can¡¯t then we don¡¯t deserve to serve you,¡± Zuckerberg said in an interview.

Facebook's slippery slope

But later news broke that Facebook was sharing user data with 61 apps, even when it said it wasn't for as much as six months after the policy change. Despite multiple calls for his resignation and the Facebook stock taking a huge hit, Mark Zuckerberg refused to step down as CEO of Facebook.

But step down people surely did, from WhatsApp and Instagram -- two companies that Facebook had bought for a combined $20 billion. In a mark of protest, both WhatsApp co-founders exited Facebook, followed closely by the founders of Instagram in September. Why did these people leave? They were allegedly with odds at the Facebook leadership's direction to monetize and dilute WhatsApp and Instagram's unique appeal, opposing and quitting in protest.

Reuters

Alarmed at the rising industrial data complex of Facebook, Google and Amazon, among other big internet companies, Sir Tim Berners-Lee -- the father of the Internet no less -- declared war on these companies, striving to bring data control back to the user who generate it in the first place. Easier said than done, of course.

Even now, on Christmas Eve in 2018, reports of Facebook data breaches are still shocking the world. From how Facebook willfully shared user data with big tech companies, without disclosing it to their users, and how private photos from 6.8 million Facebook users were leaked earlier in the month. Clearly, we have reached a point where Facebook is difficult to trust.

However, because everyone and their grandmum is on Facebook, it's difficult to delete your account and start over. Where do you start? Which other social network do you join? Perhaps people just don't care, or enough damage hasn't been caused before they sit up and take notice.

With great power comes no responsibility?

Here's why we should all be concerned about Facebook. With over 2.27 billion monthly active users, Facebook's as big as the combined population of India, USA, Indonesia, and Brazil -- the second, third, fourth and fifth most populous country in the world, respectively.

reuters

Because Facebook is so huge, Mark Zuckerberg is like the de facto president of the world's largest digital nation, controlling what billions of people around the world get to see. That's an extraordinary amount of power concentrated in one man's hand, especially when you realize you are largely powerless consumers. As Facebook users, you can't vote to remove Zuckerberg.

Facebook is more than just a social media platform -- increasingly it's where people get their information from, shaping their moods and perception of the world. Without any means to verify every single message posted on its platform, Facebook is hopelessly ill-equipped to censor or moderate inflammatory posts, false messages or propaganda from spreading like wildfire. From the Arab Spring to Philippines, Brexit to US Elections, Facebook can make or break a nation's political agenda. This can be a fatal double-edged sword, as recent years -- and especially 2018's revelations -- have shown us about Facebook.

We live in an era of unintended consequences: Facebook started with a noble mission of connecting people around the world, but got too big for its own good. Facebook right now is part of the global consciousness, for better or worse. People are habituated to it. And habits, after all, are difficult to break. However, if Facebook tries to take user's trust for granted, it won't be long before the Republic of Facebook stages an uprising.