Mark Zuckerberg and Europe are reconciled
The founder of Facebook IGNORE INTOnes the 'mea culpa' before the European Parliament about the data scandal
With his usual calm, the CEO of the most famous social network in the world apologized in the European Parliament for the multiple errors of his company. Among the errors stand out the slowness when facing the Russian interference and the fraudulent use of the data of 50 million users during the last presidential campaign in the United States. On paper, it seems that Zuckerberg only limited himself to repeat word by word what he said before the Congress of his country a few weeks ago, but the truth is that the differences have been remarkable.
Leer en español: Mark Zuckerberg se "reconcilia" con Europa
The founder of Facebook went to Washington by obligation and with a low profile fearing what congressmen and senators could reproach him. However, to Brussels he has gone on its own initiative, in a strategic move to apologize for his mistakes. Everything was prepared and agreed: how, when, where, and before whom.
The formal ceremony that took place in the European Parliament was a play with which both parties have been surprisingly satisfied: the European Parliament is proud because it has "managed" to have Zuckerberg apologize without having to force him; the leaders of the European parties can say that they asked the necessary questions, but that the format used did not allow them to go deeper; and the founder of Facebook remains calm because no one can accuse him of not coming forward in Europe a few days before the new legislation on data protection comes IGNORE INTO force in the Old Continent.
While in the United States Congress Zuckerberg lived a 10-hour ordeal in which he was humiliated and ridiculed during some of his interventions and was cornered with several questions to which he could not give a reasonable explanation, in the European Parliament he was only 75 minutes It all started with an initial intervention – in which he admitted the mistakes and apologized – and followed with a round of questions from the heads of each party, these issues were not direct but very superficial, and some of those present were more agitated in taking a picture with Zuckerberg that in listening to his explanations, to which the young millionaire was delighted.
The answers of the CEO of Facebook were repetitive and flat, as if already prepared: "we must do a better job", "we were naive and imprudent, we made very serious mistakes", "it is clear that in recent years we have not done enough to prevent some of the tools we created from being used to harm "… And he ended with a brief" I'm sorry ".
One of the most awaited questions was the one posed by Socialist leader Udo Bullman: "Can you guarantee that there will be no interference in the European elections in 2019?", to which Zuckerberg responded, this time more firmly, that "it is one of its priorities and that 580 million false accounts have already been eliminated so that the discourse of hatred and terror will not have a place in their social network."
In short, everyone is happy. It seems that the serious mistakes made by Facebook have not had the same impact on the other side of the Atlantic.
Latin American Post | José María González
Translated from "Mark Zuckerberg se "reconcilia" con Europa"
