Every year the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, likes to come out with a resolution for the coming year. His 2018 to ‘fix’ Facebook has clearly been an epic failure, given the flood of privacy scandals that have followed the social media over the past 12 months. Other high-tech technology companies, including Twitter and Google, have again come under fire this year.
The kickback – or techlash – continues until 2019, and it can get worse unless the tech giants decide to:
1. Do a much better job of protecting people’s information
This is primarily applicable to Facebook, which seems to be constitutionally unable to keep users’ information out of the hands of those who should not have it. Despite the Cambridge Analytica affair, which broke out in March and Zuckerberg was drawn to the convention to explain what went wrong, Facebook continues to leak personal information like a strainer. But it’s not the only Silicon Valley company with a problem: it turned out in October that Google’s social network had exposed the data of half a million users due to a security flaw.
If major technical companies have not yet done so, they will have to perform a top-to-bottom audit in 2019 to ensure that private information cannot be exposed by their own apps, third-party apps or otherwise. In the US, they should also support efforts to create a national data privacy regime, inspired by the European General Data Protection Regulation, which entered into force this year and has severe financial penalties for offenders. If their lobbyists try to water down new US regulations, this is a clear sign that the companies are not taking this resolution seriously.
2. Fight harder against hate speech and fake news
This year provided even more evidence about how social media can be manipulated to cause worldwide violence. Facebook admitted that it had allowed messages inciting violence against the Rohingya people in Myanmar, and its platform was temporarily banned in Sri Lanka because of the concern that it was being used to generate tensions there. In the US, Twitter was worried about whether to remove the accounts of extreme right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his InfoWars outlet, but in the end he did.
There were some encouraging signs that technology companies are finally starting to take more action against fake information. They will depend heavily on better algorithms to help them check police content in 2019, but this approach has inherent limitations. And it’s about to endure an even tougher test with the arrival of fake videos and audio files generated by AI. These “deepfakes” promise to make it even harder to decide which information to trust. Social media companies will have to deploy significant resources and know-how to tackle the in-depth threat next year.
3. Do more to promote the diversity of staff
Employees in Silicon Valley are still predominantly male and white or Asian. Major technology companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Google have pledged multi-year efforts to promote diversity, and some regularly break out employment rates based on race and gender to track progress.
But the degree of change is still frosty for many, including an African-American former Facebook director who recently published a memo accusing the company of “the failure of its black employees and black users.” do everything to be a truly inclusive company. Civil rights groups and the media will closely monitor it and other Silicon Valley companies in 2019 to see if they deliver on their promises of diversity.
4. Pay a reasonable part of the taxes
All companies try to minimize the amount of money they transfer to the tax authorities, and large technology companies are no different. But public outrage over their tax avoidance efforts through complex, global webs or accounts has increased as their profits have increased. Countries such as the UK and France are now pushing for new digital taxes on companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook. To prevent the techlash from turning into a global taxlash, tech giants should commit in 2019 to dissolve their controversial tax evasion schemes.
5. Stop using PR companies to lubricate critics
This resolution should be made easier following New York Times revelations earlier this year on Facebook’s use of a company called Definers Public Affairs. The PR company wanted to discredit some Facebook critics by claiming that they were funded by groups related to George Soros, a well-known investor who is often the target of anti-Semitic attacks. It also supported the publication of dozens of articles that attacked Google and Apple for unfavorable business practices.
6. Restrict anti-competitive instincts
Silicon Valley likes nothing more than a monopoly and many technical giants have built up a dominant position in their markets. Monopolies are not necessarily harmful to consumers or the wider economy, but large technology companies have taken advantage of their dominance to unfairly crush potential competitors. This year, antitrust officials in the European Union struck Google with a $ 5 billion fine for alleged anti-competitive behavior; the company is attractive.
The case is another sign of growing concern about the market power of Big Tech. This is not limited to Europe: US antitrust officials have also said they will look into the behavior of technology companies. The tech giants of Silicon Valley must be much more careful in 2019 if they want to prevent more legal problems.
7. Keep reminding themselves of their intentions
As everyone knows who has made good resolutions for the new year, it can be very difficult to keep them. A regular reminder helps, so the bosses of the largest companies in Silicon Valley must decide to find new ways to keep their commitments in mind.
Here is a suggestion for Facebook’s Zuckerberg. In 2009, with the global economy in turmoil, his decision to wear a tie every day was a reminder that Facebook needed to be serious about developing a sustainable business model. In 2019, one of his plans should be to wear a tie and a suit every day as a reminder of the very serious problems that Facebook must now solve. After all, he has a lot of experience wearing the combo during congress meetings about the shortcomings of Facebook.