Mark Zuckerberg loses $5b as Facebook shares fall
On Monday, Facebook shares plunged as the social
media giant faced an onslaught of criticism at home and abroad over
revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign harvested and misused data on 50 million members.
On Wall Street, Facebook shares skidded 6.8 percent amid concerns
about pressure for new regulations that could hurt its business
model. The share plunge erased $5billion from the net worth of Facebook
founder, Mark Zuckerberg as calls for investigations
came on both sides of the Atlantic after Facebook responded to the
explosive reports of misuse of its data by suspending the account of Cambridge Analytica, a British firm hired by Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican John Kennedy
called for Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg to appear before Congress,
along with the CEOs of Google and Twitter. The two lawmakers said the
companies “have amassed unprecedented amounts of personal data” and that
the lack of oversight “raises concerns about the integrity of American
elections as well as privacy rights.”
Senator Ron Wyden asked Facebook to provide more
information on what he called a “troubling” misuse of private data that
could have been used to sway voters. Wyden said he wants to know how
Cambridge Analytica used Facebook tools “to weaponize detailed
psychological profiles against tens of millions of Americans.”
In Europe, officials voiced similar outrage. Vera Jourova, the
European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality, called
the revelations “horrifying, if confirmed,” and vowed to address
concerns in the United States this week. In Britain, parliamentary
committee chair Damian Collins said both Cambridge Analytica and
Facebook had questions to answer.
“We have repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and
hold on to user data from their site, and in particular whether data had
been taken from people without their consent,” Collins said in a
statement. Their answers have consistently understated this risk, and
have also been misleading to the committee.” Alexander Nix is
chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, which has denied misusing
Facebook data for its work on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign Brian Wieser
at Pivotal Research said the revelations highlight “systemic problems
at Facebook,” but that they won’t immediately impact the social
network’s revenues.
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