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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 30 July 2018

Facebook cleanup: Hurt the stock, help the world?

By BARBARA ORTUTAY went into effect in May as
AP Technology Writer well as broader privacy
NEW YORK (AP) — It's been concerns, Facebook says
a rough year for Facebook it is giving people more
and its investors. Ques- choices around what ads
tions of data privacy, fake they want to see, and how
news proliferation and user they are tracked on and
growth have dogged the off the service. In Europe,
company. the company doesn't have
Now, it is investing heavily much of a choice. But
on fixing those problems. there is a broader backlash
Not everyone is convinced around how it handles us-
of the solutions — but if you ers' private information and
take Facebook at its word, in an increasingly privacy-
the changes it plans will ul- conscious world, its core
timately make the social business model could start
media service better for its to show some cracks.
2.2 billion users. Critics say there are plenty
For Facebook, the invest- of reasons to be skeptical
ment is not just about ca- of Facebook's fixes. Despite
tering to users; it's also an Zuckerberg's missives about
act of self-preservation. building community and
If trust in the platform making the world better, it
erodes, so too does the is still a business.
company's user base as "The biggest takeaway
well as the advertisers who is that we still don't re-
pay big money to access ally know what's going
eyeballs. on," said Michael Connor,
"If they did nothing, they whose Open Mic group
would be more vulnerable helps investors push tech
to some kind of backlash," companies to address pri-
said Drew Margolin, com- This March 29, 2018 file photo shows the Facebook logo on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite in vacy, abuse and other is-
munications professor at New York's Times Square. sues. Sure, they have made
Cornell University. Associated Press changes, he added. But it's
The social media giant's hard to tell whether they
shares tanked 19 percent tent moderators this year to like Google on this front, sible, including endless no- are meaningful shifts or just
on Thursday — its biggest clean up posts, photos and it might be too optimistic tifications and prompts to tinkering around the edges.
one-day drop in Face- videos on its platform that on how quickly AI will help log in, algorithms that show Rich Mogull CEO of the se-
book history — the day violate the social network's them address big problems users what they want to curity firm Securosis, said
after it revealed that user rules. They go through ev- such as fake news and po- see and an endless stream the question of whether
growth has slowed amid erything from nude pho- litical manipulation. of friend suggestions under Facebook is taking the right
swirling questions about tos to violent videos and The company already uses the heading "people you approach now will depend
how Facebook's informa- threats of violence to de- AI to automatically remove may know." on the degree of what larg-
tion is used. But CEO Mark termine what can stay on child pornography and ter- To fix this, Facebook says er cultural changes they're
Zuckerberg says it's all for a Facebook and what needs rorist propaganda, but with it is now prioritizing "mean- making, he said.
good cause, even at the to go. content in the gray areas, ingful" content in people's "As long as Facebook's busi-
expense of short-term prof- Facebook is also investing humans need to step in. feeds, such as photos and ness model relies on col-
its and stock price. in artificial intelligence and Facebook also must keep notes from friends and fam- lecting massive amounts of
"As I've said on past calls, machine learning to au- its service useful and fun ily and posts that spark con- user data and selling ac-
we're investing so much tomate its cleanup efforts, for people while grappling versation rather than mind- cess to those users, they will
in security that it will sig- but experts say it could with growing concerns less scrolling. The company always struggle to maintain
nificantly impact our profit- take decades before this about tech addiction and warned, however, that the a balance that favors pri-
ability. We're starting to see effort fully pays off. the effects of social media changes might results in vacy," he said.
that this quarter," Zucker- Bart Selman, a computer on people's well-being. For people spending less time "They can be incredibly
berg said in a conference science professor at Cornell years, the company has on the site, which could cut secure, but this will only
call with analysts. University and artificial intel- been able to grow the way into advertising revenue equate to privacy when
So what exactly do these ligence expert, notes that it has by using subtle and and daily user numbers. Facebook decides they
investments look like? while the company is "hiring not-so-subtle tricks to keep Then there is user privacy. want it to, and find a busi-
For one, the company is great people" and building as many people on Face- Prompted in part by Eu- ness model that supports
on track to hire 20,000 con- up fast to catch up to rivals book for as long as pos- ropean regulations that it."q