Facebook will likely need “a few years” to fix the
problems uncovered by the revelations on the hijacking of private user data,
chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview released Monday.
Speaking to the news site Vox, Zuckerberg defended the
company’s business model and shot back at criticism of the social networking
giant from Apple CEO Tim Cook last week.
Zuckerberg maintained that one of Facebook’s problems
was that it was “idealistic,” focusing on the positive aspects of connecting
people and that “we didn’t spend enough time investing in, or thinking through,
some of the downside uses of the tools.”
“I think now people are appropriately focused on some
of the risks and downsides as well,” he said.
“I think we will dig through this hole, but it will
take a few years. I wish I could solve all these issues in three months or six
months, but I just think the reality is that solving some of these questions is
just going to take a longer period of time.”
Zuckerberg also fired back at comments last week from
Cook, who argued that Facebook got into trouble because of a business model
focused on monetizing people’s data.
“I find that argument – that if you’re not paying that
somehow we can’t care about you, to be extremely glib. And not at all aligned
with the truth,” he said.
“The reality here is that if you want to build a
service that helps connect everyone in the world, then there are a lot of
people who can’t afford to pay. And therefore, as with a lot of media, having
an advertising-supported model is the only rational model.”
The interview was the latest by the Facebook chief
aimed at blunting the impact of a scandal over the harvesting of personal data
on 50 million users by a political firm linked to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic have launched
investigations into the mishandling of user data and have been seeking
Zuckerberg’s testimony.
Culled from: Washington (AFP)
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