MARK ZUCKERBERG'S PIROUETTES

BEFORE THE AMERICAN SENATE

The CEO of Facebook was summoned to explain the cases of invasion of privacy of its users, but also political manipulation and foreign interference in the US presidential election.

The 44 elected officials were a little upset by the scandal of Cambridge Analytica from the beginning of the audition. "Cambridge Analytica used the data collected through Facebook to influence the US presidential election , " Democrat Dianne Feinstein told a destabilized Mark Zuckerberg.

"The tech industry has an obligation to answer questions about the use of personal data, and the status quo can not work," said Grassley.

The founder of Facebook did not hesitate to take responsibility for not having understood in time how Facebook could be diverted in many ways. "I'm responsible for what's going on" going so far as to renew his personal apology. " It is clear now that we have not done enough to protect these (Facebook) tools from mischievous uses such as fake news, interference in elections or hate speech. It was a big mistake. I am sorry. I created Facebook, I run it, I'm responsible for what happens, " he said. "It was my mistake, I'm sorry." "It will take time to complete all the changes needed to limit these misuses," he added.

He then recapitulated past or future measures to rectify the problems. So about hate speech published on the social network, Mark Zuckerberg explained that he was betting on artificial intelligence. "We are developing artificial intelligence software that can better detect this content," he said. He also said that Facebook is hiring more and more people to work on the security of its social network, which is expected to have 20,000 people by the end of 2018, focusing specifically on security issues.

He also praised the "positive" uses of Facebook and social networks, such as the platform they recently offered to women as part of the #metoo movement, or the opportunity for small businesses to advertise and " It's our mission to connect people all over the world and bring them closer together, and to do that, we believe we need to provide a service that everyone can afford," he said. added.

Mark Zuckerberg also said he has engaged "an arms race" against "people in Russia whose job is to operate our systems and other internet systems" . He also confirmed that Facebook was cooperating with the team of the special prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential campaign.

But it is clear that the young boss of 33 years has tended to avoid embarrassing questions by hiding behind his team. "I do not know" , " I do not know" or " My team can come back to you about it" are undoubtedly the most pronounced sentences

Democrat Maria Cantweel questioning her about the possibility that Palantir, another data analysis company, was able to retrieve information in the manner of Cambridge Analytica came up against a dry wall "Ok". To Senator Roger Wicker who asked him about tracking user activity off Facebook. "You do not know ?" finally ended up letting go of the furious Republican.

"Would you agree to tell us what hotel you stayed in yesterday?" Asked Senator Dick Durbin. An embarrassed response from Facebook's founder: "Uh ... no" And the Democrat to bid: "If you sent messages this week, would you agree to tell us who?" "No, I would not agree to do it here publicly," Zuckerberg admits. " That's what we're talking about today: your right to privacy - it's about your right and whether you're willing to give up on it, so to speak, to connect the world. the world should be able to control how its data is used, " concluded the elected Illinois, facing a destabilized Mark Zuckerberg.

Several elected officials have mentioned the possibility of a stricter law to regulate the activity of the giants of the web, which would be inspired by the European regulation on data protection.

On several occasions, Mark Zuckerberg has evaded the simple but sensitive questions of elected officials annoyed: " Facebook traces surfing data of users, even when they are not connected? Or " Could other applications have recovered large amounts of data?" How long do you keep the data of users who delete their account?

"I do not know," "my teams will keep you informed," "I'll come back to you," Mark Zuckerberg said. The CEO of Facebook has promised several times to provide additional answers to senators, but many elected officials have expressed their " skepticism" in response to his unconvincing responses.

Mark Zuckerberg nevertheless gave some tips on the management of personal data. Asked about the possibility of offering a paid version of Facebook that does not exploit the data of its users, the founder did not oppose adding however that there would be "always a free version . "

This is just the beginning of a long test for Mark Zuckerberg. Indeed the Congress will audition again the young founder of Facebook, but this time to the room, from Wednesday for a new audition. Then will come the results of the current audit on applications that access a large volume of data.

"We need to become more aware of our responsibilities, to make sure that Facebook is used wisely, and in the end, people will come to see a real difference," assured Zuckerberg confidently.