Facebook finds itself in the firing line – and stuck on the back foot

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

I used Facebook for about two months when it first started to become a ‘thing’ in 2008 and then stopped. I have never used it since.  I’m sure I have missed out on a few stories by not having an account; Leo Varadkar posts his video each week on the platform. But mostly, I can get the relevant information from the home page without having to sign up.

That said, I have to declare that I use Twitter regularly. Then there is Google and Apple. I use Gmail, Google docs, Google search and Google storage, as well as Google maps. Ditto for Apple – all I’m missing from both is a wedding ring.

Where it has become sinister is when companies start to share your data with others unbeknownst to you. They will argue that you give consent… but the consent was often a needle hidden inside a haystack of small print.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed the degree to the volume of data that is held by these multinational companies and how they have been manipulated for what is, in reality, nefarious activities.

Then you get the thousands of false automated accounts (bots) set up by the Russian intelligence services to interfere with the American presidential elections and other key events.

Such activity also impacted on the Brexit referendum and may also have had an effect on the abortion referendum in Ireland earlier this year until both Facebook and Google decided to cull all advertising on the referendum (on the basis presumably of avoiding further negative publicity).

Facebook’s European headquarters is in Ireland and it has many thousands of employees here. Because it is based here, it is the Irish data Protection Commission which was responsible for policing such things. It was not very successful in that regard.

Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the disclosure of thousands of false Russian accounts on Facebook, the multinational technology company has been on the back foot.

The latest scandal was that it hired a Washington PR firm that essentially spread negative stories about is rivals and critics, including Apple and financier George Soros.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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