Facebook has become a staple of daily life for 2.2 billion people world wide, 29% of the world’s population,but also a topic of controversy in regards to the fact that Facebook may be stealing user information and selling it. But until now these accusations were not confirmed.
Ever since Facebook first came out in 2004 it has been extremely popular and has attracted a total of 2.2 billion users at its peak using its servers. However, ever since Facebook has come out it has been clouded with lawsuits and controversy. These lawsuit and misdemeanors have not slowed Facebook and it has not hurt its amount of users. But, the most recent controversy, is the possibility that Trump used personal information collected from Facebook to appeal to voters during the 2016 election. This new allegation may be Facebook’s achilles hee; and finally be enough to anger users.
When Facebook first came out it was widely successful but instantly flooded with lawsuits. The first lawsuit Zuckerberg was faced with a copyright lawsuit with the Winklevoss twins were he was forced to pay the twins 65 million dollars. Zuckerberg was again in legal trouble again when he diluted the co founder, Eduardo Saverin’s share of Facebook and was promptly sued by him.
Now Facebook is facing another possible lawsuit over the fact that it collected data and this data may have been used to help Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
“I was annoyed when I heard the news and I hope they face legal trouble but I was not surprised due to Facebook’s sketchy history,” stated Triton junior Tirth Patel.
Many users have started a #deleteFacebook movement and have decided to delete their accounts in protest but others have decided to stick with Facebook due to the fact it has become part of their daily lives. However, others instead of deleting the app have just stopped using it such as Trion junior Jeremy Dufford.
“I have not used it in a while so most of the info they’ve collectd on me is pretty much rendered useless said Dufford.”
Other however, are angered by this new discovery calling it an invasion of privacy and illegal. Some have rid themselves of it.
“Yea, when I heard the news I was pretty annoyed, even though i’m not in the United States its still frustrating since they did this behind the scenes without telling anyone and their making even more money off of me without my permission.” Said Nei Heilken.
Another student who was equally annoyed was Joshua Lind. “The fact they are taking our information and selling it without telling us in my opinion is wrong but at the same time what can you expect nowadays.”
This new allegation has angered some, and has just been foreseen by others. As of right now some countries such as Brazil has taken legal action against Facebook. A second big event because of this is Cambridge Analytics, where the data was being stored and which is currently being investigated by the FBI. Only time will tell and show how this scenario plays out. Will Facebook fall, or will it remain the world’s leading social media platform?