Facebook Continues Audacious Privacy Violations

FEATURING MARA EINSTEIN – The social media giant Facebook has had its fair share of criticism, from the role it played in fomenting polarizing and fake news ahead of the 2016 election to the ways in which it keeps tabs on users and scoops up personal data. But that criticism appears to be warranted, even after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal to try to defend his practices.

In his op-ed, titled, “The Facts About Facebook,” Zuckerberg wrote, “We need your information for operation and security, but you control whether we use it for advertising.” Critics jumped to debunk his claims even as new reports emerged about a disturbing app that the company launched, to pay teenagers to spy on them.

Mara Einstein, Professor and Chair of Media Studies at Queens College, City University of New York, and an independent marketing consultant. She has been working in, or writing about, media and marketing for more than 25 years, and been an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and at major advertising agencies. Dr. Einstein is the author of a number of books, including Black Ops Advertising: Native Ads, Content Marketing, and the Covert World Of the Digital Sell.