Facebook has been accused of being a “morality-free zone” that bullies journalists and threatens academics, as one of its executives appeared in front of MPs.
The Conservative MP Julian Knight told the social network’s chief technical officer, Mike Schroepfer, the company’s reaction to the Cambridge Analytica scandal suggested a “pattern of behaviour” that included “bullying journalists, threatening academic institutions, and potentially impeding investigations by lawful authorities”.
Addressing Schroepfer directly, the MP said the social network had tried to evade responsibility for the impact it was having on society: “I put it to you today, sir, that Facebook is a morality-free zone destructive to a fundamental right of privacy.
“You aren’t an innocent party wronged by the likes of Cambridge Analytica. You are the problem. Your company is the problem.”
The Facebook executive said he would “respectfully disagree” with that assessment. “You want us to say we’re responsible, which we have on multiple occasions,” Schroepfer said.
MPs on the Commons’ digital, culture, media and sport select committee have repeatedly requested an audience with Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, as part of their inquiry into fake news. Instead the company chose to send Schroepfer to answer questions in London.
The executive, who joined Facebook in 2008, also apologised after the social network threatened Guardian Media Group with legal action before last month’s publication of an article in the Observer containing claims about data harvesting at Cambridge Analytica made by the whistleblower Christopher Wylie.
The report detailed how Cambridge Analytica paid a researcher to harvest millions of US voters’ Facebook data using a personality quiz app to try to target them with political advertising. It caused Facebook’s share price to plummet and has prompted investigations around the world.


Related Story