Facebook saw more than £90.8 billion removed from its market value, in July of this year. Facebook shares plummeted by 19% when it reported that 3 million users in Europe had deleted their accounts in In light of the Cambridge Analytica Crisis. Once the ‘poster child for smart, data-driven electioneering’ it is now seen as a pariah. Zuckerberg, personally felt the effect, when he moved from being ‘the third richest person on the planet to ninth richest person on the planet’.
Along with the personal financial loss, Zuckerberg was called before the American Congress to answer questions about the data breach. This included 87 million user profiles being ‘harvested’ for use by Cambridge Analytica, for the express purpose of political targeting. Whistle-blower Christopher Wylie who worked for Cambridge Analytica stated that:
‘We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles and built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built upon’. (Beattie, 2018).
This crisis has deeply affected the brand and reputation of Facebook. There is a strong link between crisis communication and reputation. Facebook will need to demonstrate that it is sincere in its apology to its users, and acknowledge that it has to work towards gaining back former levels of trust. Within any crisis ‘publics’ want to know who is responsible and who to blame. Those who are involved with the crisis, are viewed more negatively if they are responsible for the situation. Despite public apologies Facebook is viewed as being invasive and untrustworthy. (Mintel Academic, 2018)
Mark Zuckerberg has refused to appear before British MP’s to answer their concerns over the Data Breech. Elizabeth Denham The Information Commissioner stated that ‘Facebook failed to provide the kind of protections they are required to under the Data Protections Act…..Fines and prosecutions punish the bad actors, but my real goal is to effect change and restore trust and confidence in our democratic system’ (Weath, 2018).
Sir Nick Clegg (Former deputy prime minister), has recently been appointed by Facebook as the New head of its Global Affairs and Communication Team. Sir Clegg stated that his aim is ‘to build bridges between politics and tech, so that tech can become the servant of progress and optimism, not a source of fear and suspicion’
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