Local Data Companies Wait For Zuckerberg To Testify To Congress

CHARLOTTE, NC — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will face questions from Congress next week about how the social media giant handles user data.

Facebook announced new rules Friday, and WCCB Charlotte spoke to a local company that gathers user data to learn how that impacts you.

The days of thinking social media is your safe space to privately vent your political, social, religious beliefs are over, data mining analysts say.

“People out there are truly under the impression that they are customers of Facebook. They are not. They are the product of Facebook,” said Kevin O’Dell.

O’Dell works for Stratifyd. He says political and advertisement companies take your information to tailor ads towards you.

He wants to hear Zuckerberg testify in front of Congress next week to explain how social media companies can protect your data from foreign governments aiming to harm the U.S.

“I’m absolutely more concerned about a foreign entity using our free speech to push the narrative they want to drive the political direction they want our country to go,” said O’Dell.

Federal agents confirmed Russian election meddlers used fears people expressed on social media to call for protests around the U.S. and influence the 2016 presidential election.

“That’s a scary world out there that, quite frankly, I don’t think people are prepared for,” said O’Dell. “It’s very hard to differentiate between promoted content and true content these days.”

Friday, Facebook announced it will label political ads and state who paid for it.

It will require people running ads and pages to verify themselves and their location.

O’Dell says that still doesn’t protect your data.

“When you look at things like dumps of what Facebook has collected, if you’ve installed that app on your phone, it’s logged every phone call you’ve ever made,” said O’Dell.

Facebook announced Friday that it does not have an opt-out button to protect our data
because then you’d have to pay for Facebook.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you start to see some of these companies offer premium models,” said O’Dell.

He’s talking about models in which you could pay for privacy.

Zuckerberg is supposed to talk to Congress about two things: the Russian meddling and the data Cambridge Analytica acquired for president Donald Trump’s campaign.