Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 130 posts

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#31

Post by OrganicMSG »

rndmio wrote: post #22

As someone from the UK I am not at all surprised, there is no upside to him doing so. There is nothing he can say that will help, the committee will absolutely rip into him as their primary audience is the press and people of the UK, they don't really care about his answers to their questions. The problem is that the story isn't about FB making mistakes, or being hacked, or doing something they said they wouldn't. It…

>It's that people are working out what it is they've agreed to to use the service

If the vast majority of users are only working out what they have signed up for now, after using the service for years, then it would be hard to argue that Facebook's users have given informed consent to a contract, which is generally a legal requirement here for it to be said that you have agreed to something.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#33

Post by alistairSH »

Milner08 wrote: post #25
mrleiter wrote: post #18

Saying this is a strategic mistake may be a bit too early to tell. It depends on whether this issue will slowly disappear in the media and minds of people (like most things). He has no legal obligation to appear if I understand correctly. The select committee mainly consists of MPs who objected Brexit. Of course they try to make their point that the vote was skewed or manipulated. If, on the other hand, the pressure…

What on earth does their stance on Brexit have to do with there position in the select committee?!

Brexit is relevant, because like the election of Trump, it appears nefarious actors (likely Russians in both cases) used Facebook to drive votes in a particular direction (pro-Trump, pro-Brexit).

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#34

Post by whatok »

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

So really not that much different than US Congress where he's still potentially going to appear?

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#35

Post by michaelt »

Milner08 wrote: post #25
mrleiter wrote: post #18

Saying this is a strategic mistake may be a bit too early to tell. It depends on whether this issue will slowly disappear in the media and minds of people (like most things). He has no legal obligation to appear if I understand correctly. The select committee mainly consists of MPs who objected Brexit. Of course they try to make their point that the vote was skewed or manipulated. If, on the other hand, the pressure…

What on earth does their stance on Brexit have to do with there position in the select committee?!

Cambridge Analytica / SCL donated their services to the pro-leave campaign. There are accusations that (a) these services involved committing crimes, (b) the donated services weren't counted towards the election spending limit and (c) this is an example of foreign billionaires interfering with elections.

In other words, this is embarrassing for the pro-brexit side.

A person who was pro-brexit may be inclined to downplay this, while a person who was pro-remain is less likely to sweep it under the rug.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#36

Post by bitxbit »

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

I actually think this is absolutely the wrong move for him if he already came clean. In my estimate, he is being legally advised not to show up to these hearings for reasons unclear to us at the moment. Perhaps there's more to the story than what has been revealed thus far.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#37

Post by notafxn »

AJRF wrote: post #30
notafxn wrote: post #26

I hope this hate on FB ends already, I'm tired of seeing the home page of HN polluted by it. We all knew what was going on on FB, so acting surprised is silly. And we all know this won't change nothing because most people don't care and will happily keep using FB. And we also know even if people stop using FB they will keep using WA/IG. So what's the point? Is this only a problem now that Trump took advantage of it?

Who is acting surprised? Why do you think it is inevitable that people would use WhatsApp or Instagram if they decide to leave Facebook? Is that really as obvious as you are making it out to be? Is there any evidence of that? The point is that finally, FINALLY the mainstream is paying attention to the potential ramifications of having a consolidated identity on social media, and how they potentially could have their…

I live in Western Europe and I'd say 99.9999% of owners of smartphones have either a FB, WA or IG account and use it every day. Everybody uses WA, older people use FB, younger people use IG. If you refuse to use WA you are an outcast, and many people got a smartphone just for WA.

The media likes to drives us with rage because that attracts clicks, and once a new big thing happens this will be forgotten by everybody forever.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#38

Post by YesNoYesNoNo101 »

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

Slapping those in the face who make the laws your company needs to abide to is never a good idea.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#39

Post by headmelted »

hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

Everything you've said is utterly accurate and yet I still think this is a terrible decision. We'll have to witness some hapless middle-manager undergo the same circus, but with every new person to speak we'll have a customary "I simply cannot believe Mr. Zuckerberg did not think it was important for him to be here in person!".

Having a fall guy give terrible answers looks worse than him giving terrible answers. At the very least send Sheryl Sandberg - the message they're sending out right now is that they aren't taking it seriously.

Re: Facebook's Zuckerberg will not appear before British MPs

#40

Post by CaveTech »

bitxbit wrote: post #36
hanoz wrote: post #28

This was obviously never going to happen and is absolutely the right decision for Zuckerberg and Facebook. House of Commons select committees bagging a big scalp invariably turn into show trials, with MPs possessing a completely deluded sense of their own insight into a subject queuing up to play to the cameras. The spectacle of having Zuckerberg there would have been absolutely excruciating. So, much as I'd like to…

I actually think this is absolutely the wrong move for him if he already came clean. In my estimate, he is being legally advised not to show up to these hearings for reasons unclear to us at the moment. Perhaps there's more to the story than what has been revealed thus far.

There is no conspiracy here. Being publicly scrutanized is not good for business, there is no win for Facebook to be had in this format.
Post reply on HN