Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook will fight against apps 'doing sketchy things'

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 22 March 2018

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg told CNN on Wednesday he's "really sorry" about a data breach that affected an estimated 50 million Facebook users, acknowledging that the company has "a basic responsibility" to protect people's information, "and if we can't do that then we don't deserve to have the opportunity to serve people."

The company is under scrutiny following the revelation that a data scientist created a personality quiz that was taken by millions of Facebook users, and their personal information and that of their friends was then secretly passed along to the data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. Zuckerberg told CNN's Laurie Segall that "anyone whose data may have been affected" will be notified by Facebook, and the platform plans on building a tool that lets users see if their information has been compromised and if they are using any apps that are "doing sketchy things."

Zuckerberg said he's "not sure we shouldn't be regulated," as there are "things like ad transparency regulation that I would love to see." He's also "sure someone's trying" to use Facebook to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections, a "Version 2 of whatever the Russian effort was in 2016," and "there are going to be some new tactics that we need to make sure that we observe and get in front of." Zuckerberg would be "happy" to testify before Congress "if it's the right thing to do," he said, and when Segall asked if, knowing what he does now, he thinks "Facebook impacted the results of the 2016 election," he gave a vague response. "Oh that's — that is hard," Zuckerberg said. "You know, I think that it is — it's really hard for me to have a full assessment of that."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.