At first glance, Mark ZuckerbergB次元官网网址檚 new B次元官网网址減rivacy-focused vision B次元官网网址� for Facebook looks like a transformative mission statement from a CEO under pressure to reverse years of battering over its surveillance practices and privacy failures.
But critics say the announcement obscures FacebookB次元官网网址檚 deeper motivations: To expand lucrative new commercial services, continue monopolizing the attention of users, develop new data sources to track people and frustrate regulators who might be eyeing a breakup of the social-media behemoth.
Facebook B次元官网网址渨ants to be the operating system of our lives,B次元官网网址� said Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of media studies at the University of Virginia.
ZuckerbergB次元官网网址檚 plan, outlined Wednesday, expands FacebookB次元官网网址檚 commitment to private messaging, in sharp contrast with his traditional focus on public sharing. Facebook would combine its instant-messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram Direct with its core Messenger app so that users of one could message people on the others, and would expand the use of encrypted messaging to keep outsiders B次元官网网址� including Facebook B次元官网网址� from reading the messages.
The plan also calls for using those messaging services to expand FacebookB次元官网网址檚 role in e-commerce and payments. A Facebook spokesperson later said it was too early to answer detailed questions about the companyB次元官网网址檚 messaging plans.
Vaidhyanathan said Zuckerberg wants people to abandon competing, person-to-person forms of communication such as email, texting and AppleB次元官网网址檚 iMessage in order to B次元官网网址渄o everything through a Facebook product.B次元官网网址� The end goal could be transform Facebook into a service like the Chinese app WeChat , which has 1.1 billion users and includes the worldB次元官网网址檚 most popular person-to-person online payment system.
In some respects, Facebook was already headed in this direction. It has dabbled with shopping features in its Messenger app for a few years, although without much effect. And WhatsApp, which Facebook acquired for $22 billion in 2014, embraced a strong privacy technology known as B次元官网网址渆nd-to-end encryptionB次元官网网址� nearly three years ago. Messages protected this way are shielded from snooping, even by the services who deliver them.
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But Zuckerberg said nothing in the Wednesday blog post about reforming privacy practices in its core business, which remains hungry for data. A recent Wall Street Journal report found that Facebook was still collecting personal information from apps such as user heart rates and when women ovulate .
Facebook, which perfected what critics call B次元官网网址渟urveillance capitalism,B次元官网网址� knows it has serious credibility issues. Those go beyond repeated privacy lapses to include serious abuses by Russian agents, hate groups and disinformation mongers, which Zuckerberg acknowledged only belatedly.
B次元官网网址淯ntil Facebook actually fixes its core privacy issues B次元官网网址� and especially given their history B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 difficult to take the pivot to privacy seriously,B次元官网网址� said Justin Brookman, who was a research director at the Federal Trade Commission before joining Consumers Union as privacy and technology chief in 2017.
Combining the three messaging services could allow Facebook B次元官网网址� which today has 15 million fewer U.S. users than in 2017, according to Edison Research B次元官网网址� build more complete data profiles on all its users.
The merged messaging services should generate new profits from the metadata they collect, including information on who you message, when you do it, from where and for how long, said Frederike Kaltheuner of the advocacy group Privacy International. That is the information that users leave behind when they message each other or conduct retail, travel or financial business, she added.
And Facebook doesnB次元官网网址檛 just use peopleB次元官网网址檚 information and activity on its platform, dissecting it to target people with tailored ads. It also tracks people who donB次元官网网址檛 even use the platform via small pieces of software embedded in third-party apps.
Privacy International published research in December showing that popular Android apps including KAYAK and Yelp were automatically sending user data directly to Facebook the moment they were opened. KAYAK, which was sending flight search results, halted the practice and said the transmission was inadvertent. Yelp continues to send unique identifiers known as B次元官网网址渁dvertising IDsB次元官网网址� that link to specific smartphones.
Facebook also has trackers that harvest data on peopleB次元官网网址檚 online behaviour on about 30 per cent of the worldB次元官网网址檚 websites , said Jeremy Tillman of Ghostery, a popular ad-blocker and anti-tracking software.
B次元官网网址淲hen they say they are building a private messaging platform there is nothing in there that suggests they are going to stop their data collection and ad-targeting business model,B次元官网网址� he said.
In a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press, Zuckerberg offered no specifics on new revenue sources. But B次元官网网址渢he overall opportunity here is a lot larger than what we have built in terms of Facebook and Instagram,B次元官网网址� he said.
Privacy advocates, however, do admire one key element of ZuckerbergB次元官网网址檚 announcement.
B次元官网网址淚n the last year, IB次元官网网址檝e spoken with dissidents whoB次元官网网址檝e told me encryption is the reason they are free, or even alive,B次元官网网址� Zuckerberg wrote.
AP technology writer Michael Liedtke contributed to this article from San Francisco.
Frank Bajak, The Associated Press
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