Question

The idea of corporate social responsibility is currently an interesting one, partly because of Mark Zuckerberg's hearing. It is well-known that he took private user data when he shouldn't have, but what I find compelling to discuss is the way Facebook was able to make people give up all that information about themselves. Facebook makes users believe that their timelines are a safe space, so they feel comfortable in sharing anything and everything. Privacy settings are customizable so users think they know who can and cannot see their posts and pictures. Facebook did not do anything illegal by creating such an environment for their users, but they did manipulate their users into thinking their data was safe and private on their platform. Overall, my question is : are Facebook's subtle actions unethical?

Answer 1

Yes, sharing of personal data with the third-party app, without actually seeking due permission from the Facebook users, is rather unethical. These data could be sensitive and even if not, there is certainly a breach of somebody’ private space in the social media world. The social media world is highly a risky virtual world. Privacy rights, when compromised, could therefore have the potentiality to impact the users in a negative way. The incessant advertisement exposure on the Facebook homepage, could be bothering for the users as well. Their likes, preferences, opinions, could all become Public even if all of those were not necessarily meant to be shared with others. In such a case, one very important way to go about it is to restrict the views and accessibility of the audience to the User’s profile by letting the user’s limit who can see their posts. This option is already provided by FB but not optimally utilized by the Users. In terms of the apps, under the privacy settings, the User can see the entire list of the apps that have various kinds of access to the data that the user shares on Facebook. Unchecking those boxes under the checklist will ensure lesser information being shared with the third-party. However, there could be possibly a chance that before unchecking these boxes, those third-party may have already stored the User’s information by then. In such a case, the User needs to contact the Third-party and request them to delete any previous records that is being shared by FB to them. Further, one also has the option of switching off the integration that links the Facebook with the Third-party apps. For this, there is a ‘Disable platform’ under Apps and Websites and Plugins.