Facebook Whistleblowing: Scandal, Impact, and Governance Issues

This presentation delves into the Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal that exposed the data of 87 million users. It discusses the relevant facts, primary stakeholders impacted, ethical and governance issues, and lessons from ethics theories. It also explores how people did and should have responded to the scandal.

FACEBOOK WHISTLE-
BLOWING

INTRODUCTION
• The Facebook Cambridge analytical was one of
the political scandals that occurred in the year
2018.
• In which Facebook exposed data of 87 million
users.
• The Cambridge analytical CEO reached out to
WikiLeaks founder and observed that hackers
hacked the servers and networks.

RELEVANT FACTS
• In 2010, Facebook developed an open graph
process that enables third party developers to
access users accounts.
• This application collects users information and
produces a psychological profile.
• This application also collected the data of their
friends by using the open graph algorithm In the
year 2017, it is evaluated that the personal
information of 50 million consumers was collected
by Cambridge analyitca.

RELEVANT FACTS
• This information and data were provided by the
whistle blower Christopher Wylie.
• This whistle blower also analysed that this data
and information used to identify the potential
voters that supported Donald trump.
• According to Facebook CEO, it was a mistake of
organization and they were not able to secure
users data.

RELEVANT FACTS
• After this issue, the corporation sent a notification
to users regarding their data security and privacy
(Tarran, 2018).
• The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
imposed a penalty of £500,000 on Facebook for
maintaining the privacy of users data.
• It is one of the serious issues faced by the users
and the government.

RELEVANT FACTS
• In the year 2018, the Facebook organization also
involved in another attack and scandal in which
criminals collect and store the login information
of 50 million consumers.
• Mainly, they used the concept and principle of
malicious attack. With the help of this issue users
lost their private details like photos, name, mobile
numbers and so on.

PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS IMPACTED
• There are many stakeholders impacted due to
Facebook Cambridge analytica issue which are
following:
• People and users
• Shareholders
• Government
• Facebook
• All these are stakeholders that affected due to
this attack and also affected their shareholder of
Facebook.

ETHICAL ISSUE
• The first ethical issue is that Facebook developed
and launched the Open Graph application.
• Moreover, they collected and stored the data of
users without their permission.
• They used these data and information in order to
identify potential voters that supported the trump
and vote for him.

ETHICAL ISSUES
• It is observed that the Cambridge Analytica utilize
the user's data to try to help president trump.
• Cambridge purchased voter information and data
from political data firms which is also an ethical
issue
• The Cambridge Analytica misused private details
of around 50 million Facebook consumers.

ETHICAL ISSUE
• The Open graph application take permission from
users in order to access their accounts and they
also collected information of their friends as well
as.
• Due to this problem many users lost their privacy
and Facebook impose £500,000 penalty.

GOVERNANCE ISSUES
• The Cambridge analytica collected the names of
users in order to identify the voters that support
Donald trump.
• There are major five governances issues raised in
the Cambridge analytica which are following:
• CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
• OVERSIGHT ISSUES
• ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES
• TRANSPARENCY

GOVERNANCE ISSUES
• CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:
• Facebook did not priories the privacy of stakeholders data
and they conflicted the data and information of users
without their permission.
• OVERSIGHT ISSUES:
• The developer team of open graph did not oversight and
monitor the data of users which is very common
governance issue
• They did not take any permission from users in order to
collect their private details

GOVERNMENT ISSUE
• ACCOUNTABILITY ISSUES:
• The major governance issue of this attack is that all
leaderships were not accountable towards users
• TRANSPARENCY:
• They did not make any transparency at the time of data
collection which create a serious governance issue.
• They also collected the private details of users friends
and family members

GOVERNANCE ISSUE
• ETHICS VIOLATIONS:
• The first ethical issue is that Facebook developed and
launched the Open graph application.
• Moreover, they collected and stored the data of users
without their permission (CNBC, 2018).
• They used these data and information in order to identify
potential voters that supported the trump and vote for
him.
• The Cambridge Analytica misused private details of
around 50 million Facebook consumers.

LESSONS AND INSIGHTS FROM ETHICS
THEORIES
• For better understanding of this scandal the
deontology ethical theory can used (Isaak, and
Hanna, 2018).
• According to the deontology theory the morality
of an action or situation should be based on
weather the action is right or wrong.
• It is an ethical theory which is depended on the
predefined sets of rules and regulation.

LESSONS AND INSIGHTS FROM ETHICS
THEORIES
• Deontology theory is very simple to apply
because it need that individuals who follow the
rules and regulation.
• In the case of Cambridge analyitca developers did
not secure data of users and they collected their
friends data and information which is ethically
wrong.
• Moreover, they used these data at the time of
election in order to find the potential voters which
is also wrong as per the deontology theory.

LESSONS AND INSIGHTS FROM ETHICS
THEORIES
• In the Cambridge analytica developers did not
follow the rules and they developed open graph
application that collected consumers data.
• With the help of this theory individuals can
understand Cambridge analyitca problem and
they can identify key factors that reduce the
privacy of user’s data and information.

HOW PEOPLE DID/SHOULD HAVE
RESPONDED
• Facebook should not have launched open graph
application
• Transparency should be maintained while
collecting and storing the data of users
• Should not have allowed developers to collect
users data without their permission
• After this attack Facebook removed this
application and improved security tools

HOW PEOPLE DID/SHOULD HAVE
RESPONDED
• After this attack, users of Facebook adopted the
advanced security tools and techniques like
encryption, firewall and so on (Kleinman, 2018).
• Moreover, they reduced their shareholders and
people responded or provided their views on
social media
• Users also lost their private details like name,
mobile numbers, profile pictures and so on.

REFERENCES
• CNBC (2018) Facebook-Cambridge Analytica: A timeline of
the data hijacking scandal. [online] Available from: https://
www.cnbc.com/2018/04/10/facebook-cambridge-analytica-
a-timeline-of-the-data-hijacking-scandal.html
[Accessed 20/02/2019].
• Isaak, J. and Hanna, M.J., (2018) User Data Privacy:
Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and Privacy
Protection. Computer, 51(8), pp.56-59.
• Tarran, B., (2018) What can we learn from the Facebook—
Cambridge Analytica scandal?. Significance, 15(3), pp.4-5.
• Kleinman, Z., (2018) Facebook: Cambridge Analytica
warning sent to users. BBC News, 9(2), pp. 12-18.