One thing I always knew about the internet is that nothing is private. Every time you explore the internet, your data and personal information is being collected and stored; this is called machine learning. Machine learning is a process in which the internet collects information about you so it can cater to you and your likings. Social media sites are a perfect example of this.
In the article, “This Time, Facebook Really Might be Fucked,” it details Facebook allowing over 50 million of its user’s personal information to be collected by a data mining company that was associated with President Trump’s campaign. When this information was leaked to the public, Facebook’s stock plummeted, and many users were left asking questions about the protection of their personal information that was promised to them by Facebook. As a company, it is important to protect user data as a means of creating trust, but it is not an obligation especially when your company is a social media site and the information that is being shared is within the law. There are data protection statements that every user must agree to before creating a social media account. After agreeing, the information collected from you can be used in any way as long as it is not in violation of the agreement. Whether you believe this is wrong or right, it does not matter because you already sign the contract. This one of the main reason Facebook did not want to use the word “breach,” while addressing the leak because it was not.