After years of maintaining strict controls over its users’ data, in order to avoid potential misuse, Meta’s now looking to lessen the impact of its data controls, in favor of a more innovative product focus.
As reported by The Information, Meta has told staff that it’s looking to reduce the influence of privacy concerns in product launches, while past decisions based on the same will be reassessed.
As per The Information:
“Privacy teams will have less authority to delay product launches. Instead, product teams will have the final say over what privacy risks are acceptable and whether a product should be released.”
Interestingly, it was only last month when Meta reminded us of the $8 billion that it’s spent on privacy-related initiatives since 2019. But now, amid a broader shift in focus, and increasing competition in AI, Meta’s slowly shifting back to its “move fast and break things” approach.
Meta’s current data privacy regulations were implemented in response to various fines for breaches of data security, including a record $5 billion pernalty from the FTC for breaches stemming from the Cambridge Analytica incident. Meta has long played down the Cambridge Analytica debacle, but nonetheless, the incident marked a major turning point in its approach, and led to many of Meta’s current data regulations being enacted.
Which is a good thing, because there were a lot of gaps in Meta’s systems. App developers have reported that they were once able to access a heap of Facebook user data via the API, which Meta has since addressed, while other breaches have led to misuse of Facebook and Instagram data by criminal groups.
So whether Cambridge Analytica was as big of an incident as reported, it did force Meta to reassess its processes, while it’s also faced various penalties in Europe for similar breaches.
But now, with Meta looking to relax its rules overall, it’s also taking the opportunity to reassess its systems, and ensure that they’re not impeding its progress.
As noted, the main impetus for such seems to be AI development, and Meta’s desire to stay ahead of the pack with its AI offerings. China’s DeepSeek, which was reportedly developed at much lower cost, and much faster than other AI projects, has sparked concerns that an overly cautious approach to such will see American developers lose out, with Meta being among those who could be forced to slow development due to privacy and safety requirements.
Which Meta’s never been a fan of. It has, of course, played by the rules as required, but Mark Zuckerberg’s preferred mode of operation is to push innovation, then deal with the consequences later.
Which, as we’ve seen with social media, doesn’t always lead to the best outcomes.
Indeed, it is somewhat amazing that in a time when governments are looking to implement increased age limits on social media use, due to concerns over the harms caused by such, that we’re also now pushing ahead with rapid development of new technologies, that we’re likely to also find are potentially harmful in retrospect.
Meta’s repeatedly lowered the age restrictions on VR access, has incorporated vast amounts of user data into its AI models, and recently launched a new initiative that will see your Facebook and Instagram information incorporated into its AI chatbot to personalize its responses.
All of these are risky projects, that’ll eventually see too much information fall into the wrong person’s hands, or cause direct harm as a result. Then Zuckerberg will bow his head, offer an offhand apology to families, then go back to watching the dollars come in.
I understand the desire for innovation, but I’m not sure that a significant reduction in safety measures and double-checks is a good approach for society more broadly.
But with Trump in the White House, it seems that Meta’s now taking the opportunity to push ahead with innovation at all costs, knowing that a Trump Administration will prioritize “winning” over everything else.
