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Why Facebook Is the Most Vulnerable of the Tech Giants
At this point, nobody expects news of another data breach to affect Facebook’s bottom line. Instead, the company’s challenges lie in its dependence on rivals like Apple and Google. On the latest Pivot podcast, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss why Facebook, whose business model looks bulletproof right now, may face a rougher road ahead — and how it is trying to avoid that path.
Kara Swisher: Half a billion Facebook users’ information has been posted on a hacking website. This is from a hack that happened several years ago, according to cybersecurity experts, but it’s now resurfacing. There are records including names, phone numbers, birthdays, locations. More than 32 million accounts in the United States, 11 million in the United Kingdom, and 6 million in India were affected. A Facebook spokesperson said this is old information and they’d fixed it in August 2019, but did not say if they had notified users at the time. Meanwhile, the company’s stock is at an all-time high. The stock has risen 120 percent since the end of 2019. So through these very difficult times, the investors keep going for it.
And this breach is not a breach. Just to make it clear to people, it’s information resurfacing in these dark parts of the web. But again, it’s just another reminder that you give a lot of information to Facebook and they grab a lot. Scott, what do you think?
Scott Galloway: I don’t know. Does anyone care anymore? You can’t trust Facebook. I mean, okay — hey, take your data, they don’t protect it. If there’s a hack, they will minimize it. I mean, it’s like, add this to the list. “Oh, advertiser. You’re getting a billion video impressions, and it’s worth what you’re paying. Oh, just kidding. You’re not getting a fraction of that, but we’re not going to refund you.”
Facebook is very smart, and if they know, “If we just keep abusing data sets and hiring more lobbyists such that we don’t actually get in trouble other than fines, which we can afford to pay, and we flood the zone with misinformation and information and we keep violating people’s trust, we can get away with it.” We’re now in a shareholder-driven economy where the shareholder classes overrun government, and as long as the stock keeps going up …
K.S.: Tell me why it’s unscathed. Explain for the people why the stock remains unscathed.
There's a taste.
Why Facebook Is the Most Vulnerable of the Tech Giants
At this point, nobody expects news of another data breach to affect Facebook’s bottom line. Instead, the company’s challenges lie in its dependence on rivals like Apple and Google. On the latest Pivot podcast, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway discuss why Facebook, whose business model looks bulletproof right now, may face a rougher road ahead — and how it is trying to avoid that path.
Kara Swisher: Half a billion Facebook users’ information has been posted on a hacking website. This is from a hack that happened several years ago, according to cybersecurity experts, but it’s now resurfacing. There are records including names, phone numbers, birthdays, locations. More than 32 million accounts in the United States, 11 million in the United Kingdom, and 6 million in India were affected. A Facebook spokesperson said this is old information and they’d fixed it in August 2019, but did not say if they had notified users at the time. Meanwhile, the company’s stock is at an all-time high. The stock has risen 120 percent since the end of 2019. So through these very difficult times, the investors keep going for it.
And this breach is not a breach. Just to make it clear to people, it’s information resurfacing in these dark parts of the web. But again, it’s just another reminder that you give a lot of information to Facebook and they grab a lot. Scott, what do you think?
Scott Galloway: I don’t know. Does anyone care anymore? You can’t trust Facebook. I mean, okay — hey, take your data, they don’t protect it. If there’s a hack, they will minimize it. I mean, it’s like, add this to the list. “Oh, advertiser. You’re getting a billion video impressions, and it’s worth what you’re paying. Oh, just kidding. You’re not getting a fraction of that, but we’re not going to refund you.”
Facebook is very smart, and if they know, “If we just keep abusing data sets and hiring more lobbyists such that we don’t actually get in trouble other than fines, which we can afford to pay, and we flood the zone with misinformation and information and we keep violating people’s trust, we can get away with it.” We’re now in a shareholder-driven economy where the shareholder classes overrun government, and as long as the stock keeps going up …
K.S.: Tell me why it’s unscathed. Explain for the people why the stock remains unscathed.
There's a taste.
