The life of the social networking giant has been peppered, since the beginning of this year, with vague, harsh criticisms from not only activist groups and disaffected users, but also from states, following Facebook's involvement in a huge data scandal after it was revealed that at least 87 million user data were collected without their knowledge. This is what led Zuckerberg to appear before the parliaments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe to respond to this leakage of user data. He is also asked in the Russian parliament where his testimony is expected.
The shareholder meeting in Menlo Park on June 1 was not an ordinary meeting, The Mercury News reported. Mark Zuckerberg, who controls the company through special shares that give him more votes than other shareholders, was invited to respond to shareholders' concerns about the last few difficult months the group had gone through.
A leading investor compared the mishandling of social network users' data to a violation of human rights. In his wake, another warned Facebook to avoid further scandals in the future. And one of them advised Mark Zuckerberg to emulate George Washington, not Vladimir Putin, and avoid turning Facebook into a "corporate dictatorship," reported The Mercury news.
Facebook's meeting took place in an overheated atmosphere. A lady was taken out of the meeting in the first minutes because of repeated interruptions. The activists protested by a floating plane above the meeting and carried a banner reading "YOU BROKEN DEMOCRACY" and "Facebook's Freedom." The group of activists of privacy and anti-monopoly asked the FTC (US Federal Trade Commission) to dismember the company.
A list of controversies was drawn up by another shareholder after Zuckerberg relaxed the atmosphere "A lot has happened since last year when we were here. Among other controversies on this list, there was Russia's interference in the US presidential election, the spread of misinformation and concerns over data privacy. Other concerns were raised.
Zuckerberg reacted in the same way to US and European lawmakers when he was invited to say that society is aware of the situation. When Facebook created his company, "we have not done enough to be proactive about how people can abuse these tools," added Zuckerberg. Facebook is investing to make the changes necessary to ensure election integrity, reduce the proliferation of fake user accounts, and more, he added. "We are also very focused on transparency," said Zuckerberg, referring to the content moderation policies the company had just published for the first time.
Facebook spoke about everything from prejudice to their impact on the community. The company also wants to be seen as a neutral platform for all ideas, Zuckerberg said. The CEO also argues that Facebook is working to invest in transportation solutions to facilitate traffic around the buildings of its headquarters.
In response to the last question about why everyone blames Facebook, Zuckerberg responds by saying, when he sees a blanket of negative news, "I do not agree with all of this, but I think some of them are very fair. The Mercury News reported.
Despite this heated meeting of disgruntled shareholders worried about the future of their group, Facebook shares rose 2.19% Thursday to close at $ 191.78 per share.
Source: The Mercury News
