Facebook’s founder ‘is not the hero’ many people thought he was
A public apology by Mark Zuckerberg over the co-opting of Facebook users’ personal data is proving not to be enough, with some saying he has lost control of his creation
San Francisco — Mark Zuckerberg rose to wealth and fame with a mission of connecting everyone through Facebook, but now faces the wrath of users outraged he isn’t doing more to defend their data. The latest crisis laying siege to the leading online social network has raised the spectre that he has lost control of his creation and been naive about the unintended consequences of people sharing so much about themselves. "If Facebook was a typical company, and Zuckerberg was the founder, he would probably be gone," said tech industry analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group. "He looks like a guy who really doesn’t know what he is doing. He is not the hero that a lot of people had viewed him as; his reputation and image are badly damaged." Facebook has prospered on digital advertising that benefits from being able to use what people share about themselves to target ads. If Facebook was betting on people’s better natures when it came to truthfully sharing, respecting others, and being able to...
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