The Truth About Facebook

Ask this expert on data science what Congress should have asked Mark Zuckerberg last week, and she’ll say, nothing.

If that surprises you, please understand that these hearings are not designed to deliver the truth. They’re designed to tell the public that, if there’s a problem, the government is doing something about it. So you’re not gonna get much straight talk. It’s not that no one cares. But the problem is bigger than Facebook or the United States, as we’ve explained before.

And people have a right to know.

Now, I’m no data scientist, but I spend a lot of time on these issues in my line of work, so here are some basic truths you should know if they haven’t sunk in yet. I give the same advice to clients whenever it comes up.

1. You are not the customer. You are the product. Their business is to derive as much information about you as possible and sell it to others. Governments like this, too, because it’s a great way to study people, keep tabs on them, and even manipulate them. No one will stop doing this for the foreseeable future.
2. You should assume that you create a permanent record of everything you do on your phone or the internet. You can’t avoid that by logging out of an app or even deleting it. The only way may be to give up electronic devices altogether and live off the grid. And good luck with that.
3. Your friends and family don’t decide what you see when you log in. Facebook does. Or whichever other company does. Obviously, they want to show you what they think you want to see so you’ll spend more time on their platform. But they can also manipulate what you see—or even what you think you want to see.

Welcome to the 21st century. It’s no wonder Americans are throwing up their hands over privacy. But at least we can still debate and, hopefully, decide how we want to live in the United States. The same does not apply around the world.