Facebook Submits 500-Page Response to US Senators’ Queries

• Facebook submitted nearly 500 pages of responses to dozens of US Senators’ queries from the April 2018 testimony of Mark Zuckerberg.
• The submission was made earlier this week attempting to bring clarity to concerns that have been surrounding the social media company.
• Many lawmakers have been questioning the privacy policies and the security of user data on the social media platform.

With many looming questions from US Senators that were unanswered in the April 2018 testimony of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has released an official response spanning almost 500 pages to answer the queries. Most of the responses were directed to questions surrounding the company’s privacy policies and how the social media platform is going to ensure any incidents similar to the Cambridge Analytica scandal do not happen again.

One of the questions raised by lawmakers was if the social media platform would be willing to offer an ad-free experience with added privacy. Facebook responded that such a paid service is not on their radar currently and it is unlikely such a service will be launched under the Facebook banner.

The social media company has promised to release detailed findings of its research from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Data firm Cambridge Analytica was a third-party partner of the social media platform and sold information it collected for election purposes of 87 million users to another third-party without notifying Facebook. The data firm is facing legal action and has filed for bankruptcy. The full extent of the scandal and the amount of data stolen and misused is currently unknown with investigations still ongoing.

Facebook informed that the research on the scandal and forensics would take a few more months until a proper analysis of the scandal can be made. The platform mentioned that they would be banning any apps found guilty of misusing user data but if information on said partners will be made public has been left unanswered in the 500-page response.

Facebook believes that privacy and advertising are not in conflict on the platform and user data is dealt with securely enough with its new privacy policies. The platform wants to continue offering an advertisement-based service that helps the platform offer personalized and customizable ads based on interests and usage patterns of the platform’s users.