Zuckerberg and the pursuit of the Metaverse
Whilst Facebook’s data privacy scandals no longer come as a surprise, a new era has emerged with Facebook’s rebranding as Meta. Zuckerberg’s pursuit for the creation of a virtual and immersive world has been called ‘an exciting new chapter’ for the company. The vision for Meta is to create ‘interconnected digital spaces’ that allow individuals to maintain a social presence, regardless of where they may be physically located in the world. The creation of the metaverse is ambitious, with plans to encompass virtual reality into all aspects of our lives, including work, fitness, and gaming. And whilst this all sounds very exciting; what does this truly mean for consumer privacy?
Facebook’s data scandals: The chapter too easily forgotten
Facebook has had many, many shortcomings in the past, particularly regarding its handling of consumer data. However, it remains the world’s most widely used social media platform, with approximately 2.9 billion active users. With this in mind, let us recap Facebook’s highlights throughout the years:
2007:
Facebook settled a lawsuit for breach of the Video Privacy Protection Act, paying $9.5 million.
2009:
The New York Times reported that private user data was being shared online by Facebook, launching a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation in 2011.
2013:
Facebook disclosed information regarding a bug that exposed the personal details of over 6 million accounts during the year.
2014-2017:
The big Cambridge Analytica scandal began in 2014. Data from Facebook had been shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political data-analytics consulting firm. This involved obtaining more than 87 million users’ data without consent. This data was sold and used to create ‘psychographic’ profiles of individuals in order to target individuals with pro-Trump advertising. Both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have threatened to sue The Guardian over their publications covering these issues, accusing it of ‘defamation’.
2018:
The FTC opened another investigation to investigate whether Facebook had violated the terms of their 2011 agreement. Around the same time, The Washington Post reported that ‘malicious actors’ had used Facebook’s search function and gathered most of the public information available for almost 2 billion users. Around the same time, another vulnerability in Facebook meant that the private photos of 6.8 million users were leaked.
2019:
A Facebook ‘research’ program was uncovered, which involved paying individuals to use a VPN application on their phones. This started a 3 year investigation, which culminated in the ruling that Facebook must obtain consent before gathering data on non-Facebook users. Around the same time, Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak warned users to stop using Facebook.
2020:
Facebook admitted to sharing the data of its users with approximately 5,000 third-party developers even after their access to such data had expired. Around the same period, Facebook was also forced to pay $550 million to settle a privacy lawsuit which involved allegations that it had violated a law regarding its storage of biometric data.
Meta’s new promise
Zuckerberg has acknowledged that ‘Open standards, privacy and safety need to be built into the metaverse from day one’.
However, there have already been warnings from many professionals about the new scale at which data could be taken from consumers. Marcus Carter, a digital cultures lecturer from the University of Sydney said in an article with Fortune that metaverse technologies were ‘perhaps the most data-extractive digital sensors’. Inviting such augmented reality and virtual reality technologies into homes would allow these technologies to track individuals and how they move in these environments. This data can then be used to identify individuals, almost like a biometric fingerprint.
Whilst Zuckerberg maintains that he is collaborating with data privacy professionals and ensuring that his products are designed safely, we must ask ourselves if meta will truly be any different from Facebook. History has taught us that there is too much money to be made in the era of big data and surveillance capitalism. Only time will tell how much worse meta will be.
Whilst Facebook’s data privacy scandals no longer come as a surprise, a new era has emerged with Facebook’s rebranding as Meta. Zuckerberg’s pursuit for the creation of a virtual and immersive world has been called ‘an exciting new chapter’ for the company. The vision for Meta is to create ‘interconnected digital spaces’ that allow individuals to maintain a social presence, regardless of where they may be physically located in the world. The creation of the metaverse is ambitious, with plans to encompass virtual reality into all aspects of our lives, including work, fitness, and gaming. And whilst this all sounds very exciting; what does this truly mean for consumer privacy?
Facebook’s data scandals: The chapter too easily forgotten
Facebook has had many, many shortcomings in the past, particularly regarding its handling of consumer data. However, it remains the world’s most widely used social media platform, with approximately 2.9 billion active users. With this in mind, let us recap Facebook’s highlights throughout the years:
2007:
Facebook settled a lawsuit for breach of the Video Privacy Protection Act, paying $9.5 million.
2009:
The New York Times reported that private user data was being shared online by Facebook, launching a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation in 2011.
2013:
Facebook disclosed information regarding a bug that exposed the personal details of over 6 million accounts during the year.
2014-2017:
The big Cambridge Analytica scandal began in 2014. Data from Facebook had been shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political data-analytics consulting firm. This involved obtaining more than 87 million users’ data without consent. This data was sold and used to create ‘psychographic’ profiles of individuals in order to target individuals with pro-Trump advertising. Both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have threatened to sue The Guardian over their publications covering these issues, accusing it of ‘defamation’.
2018:
The FTC opened another investigation to investigate whether Facebook had violated the terms of their 2011 agreement. Around the same time, The Washington Post reported that ‘malicious actors’ had used Facebook’s search function and gathered most of the public information available for almost 2 billion users. Around the same time, another vulnerability in Facebook meant that the private photos of 6.8 million users were leaked.
2019:
A Facebook ‘research’ program was uncovered, which involved paying individuals to use a VPN application on their phones. This started a 3 year investigation, which culminated in the ruling that Facebook must obtain consent before gathering data on non-Facebook users. Around the same time, Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak warned users to stop using Facebook.
2020:
Facebook admitted to sharing the data of its users with approximately 5,000 third-party developers even after their access to such data had expired. Around the same period, Facebook was also forced to pay $550 million to settle a privacy lawsuit which involved allegations that it had violated a law regarding its storage of biometric data.
Meta’s new promise
Zuckerberg has acknowledged that ‘Open standards, privacy and safety need to be built into the metaverse from day one’.
However, there have already been warnings from many professionals about the new scale at which data could be taken from consumers. Marcus Carter, a digital cultures lecturer from the University of Sydney said in an article with Fortune that metaverse technologies were ‘perhaps the most data-extractive digital sensors’. Inviting such augmented reality and virtual reality technologies into homes would allow these technologies to track individuals and how they move in these environments. This data can then be used to identify individuals, almost like a biometric fingerprint.
Whilst Zuckerberg maintains that he is collaborating with data privacy professionals and ensuring that his products are designed safely, we must ask ourselves if meta will truly be any different from Facebook. History has taught us that there is too much money to be made in the era of big data and surveillance capitalism. Only time will tell how much worse meta will be.
