5 hours with Mark Zuckerberg

This is a landmark moment. Mark Zuckerberg (MZ), founder and CEO of the world's biggest human network ever built (2+ billion users) is testifying before US congress for the first time over the course of two days. Day one has wrapped up after an extensive 5-hour hearing session. Here are personal comments post-viewing.

General impression

Looking back, it is clear that MZ has come a long way when it comes to communicating. He flawlessly weighed his words from start to finish, dodge and political cant included. On the other hand, I am asking myself: are our elected representatives really understanding the data-driven world of the 21st century? Do they properly understand the power that comes with owning the data of a 2b+ people network whose 1,4b visit the plaform daily? Do they fully apprehend the fact that for millions, Facebook is the Internet and for billions a daily go-to source? Can accountability and responsibility be placed onto the shoulders of a 33-year-old man alone? Can these billions of people keep being subjected to an attention race that implies exploiting human psychology and massive data collection for the sake of connecting people with a free service based on advertising? After a 5-hour hearing, not sure most senators weighed such questions at the level they should be addressed.

Some questions were thought-provoking and sharp, but many were just scratching the surface of the stakes. AI, blockchain and other key tech as well as where a data-driven society is taking us seem to be out of the scope of understanding for most —if not all— senators who came to ask MZ some questions. We need public figures of all ages to carry the debate, not just 50+ seniors which understandably can't grasp it all as the world is changing fast.

Facebook, always free?

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg did mention this week that for users to opt out of all ads, they would have to pay. A senator brought up the ? what if users pay ? question. MZ defended his free service as a means to better pursue their mission to connect people around the world.

? Yes, there will always be a version of Facebook that is free. It is our mission to try to help connect everyone around the world and to bring the world closer together. In order to do that, we believe that we need to offer a service that everyone can afford, and we're committed to doing that. ? ~Mark Zuckerberg

In other words, MZ thinks that trading off data for a free service is the right business model, period. Here again, he wasn't challenged enough on such an assumption. What does such a model imply? Attention race? Brain time hacking? Data collection? Privacy invasion? It is in Facebook's DNA to collect as much data as possible, so yes it needs attention (it's a race against competition) that requires to build a platform addictive by design (hacking brain through dopamine and psychology vulnerabilities) to collect as much data as possible, which implies privacy invasion and potential breaches for many reasons.

The question of data sharing was highlighted a couple of times during the hearing and MZ kept repeating that Facebook does not sell data to advertisers. Instead, they offer advertisers to ask Facebook what users they want to reach and Facebook (its algorithms) does the work to display certain ads in front of the right audience. Literally, Facebook does not share data nor do advertisers access it but let's be clear: in practice advertisers benefit from Facebook's profiling tactics.

The inventor of the World Wide Web Tim-Berners Lee recently published an open letter in The Guardian where he wrote : ? Two myths currently limit our collective imagination: the myth that advertising is the only possible business model for online companies, and the myth that it’s too late to change the way platforms operate. On both points, we need to be a little more creative. ? — MZ's thinking on this would be worthy.

What data are we talking about?

MZ was questioned many times about Facebook’s targeting practices. Facebook CEO did deny again that Facebook was in any way listening through people’s smartphone even though he acknowledged that while using video (e.g. Messenger video chat), they did use the audio for ad optimization. A question that would have been worth asking is: if Facebook does not use microphone to listen in for more precise advertising, has Facebook ever experimenting doing so for a certain period of time as it did with geotracking at the time?

Dodge or ignorance, MZ said he was not sure if Facebook users were tracked even when they were logged out of the platform (cf. Facebook practices of tracking users using the Facebook pixel and/or the like/share button on millions of website). MZ when asked if users did know about such doings answered yes, which we can really doubt.

? I would hope that what we do with data is not surprising to people. ? ~Mark Zuckerberg

Being asked if the social network tracks a user between devices even if Facebook is not running on those devices, MZ answered that he was not sure. We can assume that he has heard about Onavo Protect though.

Who owns the data?

Here is what everybody's been trying to tell MZ, gently:

The question of data ownership was raised in many forms during the hearing. Although MZ insisted that users fully own their data, it did not convince much as users can't choose not to be subjected to advertising unless they leave the platform. In other words, users do not have an option to pay not to be tracked and ? sold ? to advertisers.

In MZ's perspective, data ownership means here that ? you have control over how it's used on Facebook ? when asked about it by Senator Jon Tester. The bottom line is: if you use Facebook, your data is used. Ownership comes on top to decide how. MZ later during the hearing shared a broader definition about Facebook's approach of data ownership:

? You own it [the data] in the sense that you choose to put it there. You can take it down anytime, and you completely control the terms under which it's used. When you put it on Facebook, you are granting us a licence to be up to show it to other people and that's necessary in order for the service to operate. ? ~Mark Zuckerberg

The way forward

As expected, questions about the so-called Russian interference and other political advertising/propaganda campaigns were on the bill even though these were not the most talked about aspects of the day. Data protection and related policy were at the center of yesterday's hearing.

As MZ repeatedly brought up artificial intelligence as a solution to the problems that the social network is facing while answering questions, this caught my attention. AI will help, but it is raising very serious ethical questions that we need to think deeply about: how far can we push the automation of human input when it comes to dealing with bots, trolls, fake accounts and false information? More broadly, is it acceptable as a society to be increasingly handing over human responsibility to algorithms?

On the topic of regulation, the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that will enforce in the EU next 25 May was pointed out as a potential good move forward, but MZ failed to explicitly affirm that GDPR standards would apply to all Facebook users across the world. He was deliberately avoiding the words ? law ? and ? regulation ? while comparing the current state of the US about data protection and what Europe is doing.

Privacy matters

Maybe one of the most straightforward and simple question asked yesterday helped point out the importance of the matter: ? Mr. Zuckerberg, would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night? ?

All in all, the whole hearing surrounding this first of two testimonies from Facebook CEO was around the fundamental right to privacy and how to protect it in the age of big data.

? If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of use are gonna have any privacy anymore ? ~U.S. Senator Bill Nelson

You can (re)watch Mark Zuckerberg's testimony below:

Today, Mark Zuckerberg is testifying before the Energy and Commerce House at 10am ET / 4pm CEST. Watch it live here.

? Find a compilation of key tweets about the two-day congressional hearings of Mark Zuckerberg here (updated in real time).