Mark Zuckerberg once called Facebook users ‘dumb f***s’ for handing over personal info to him – as fears over major hack grow
MARK ZUCKERBERG called the first few thousand Facebook users “dumb f***s” for trusting him with their data.
The Facebook founder’s shocking outburst came to light several years back, but is doubly relevant after last week’s announcement of a major Facebook hack that affects 50million users.
Last Friday, Facebook revealed that three bugs in its website code had been exploited by hackers.
The bugs allowed hackers to not only log into 50million Facebook accounts – but also log into any services linked to Facebook, like Spotify, Tinder or Instagram.
And earlier this year, it was also revealed that a company called Cambridge Analytica had harvested the personal data of 50 million Facebook profiles.
The info was allegedly used to map out voter behaviour in 2016 for both the Brexit campaign and the US presidential election.
It won’t surprise many of you to learn that Facebook’s rough handling of user data began years earlier, as highlighted by Zuck’s rude exchange over instant messages with an unnamed friend in early 2004.
The leaked conversation, , ran like this:
- Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
- Zuck: Just ask.
- Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
- [Zuck’s friend]: What? How’d you manage that one?
- Zuck: People just submitted it.
- Zuck: I don’t know why.
- Zuck: They “trust me”
- Zuck: Dumb f***s
The billionaire was just 19 at the time, but his flippant disregard for Facebook users speaks volumes.
And there are reportedly more unpublished chats that are just as damaging.
14 years – and numerous privacy debacles – down the line, has anything changed?
Notably, Facebook has grown in to a $474.83billion (£363.9billion) enterprise, some of which is thanks to the targeted advertising revenue it generates off the back of its 2.2 billion users.
But it continues to drop the ball when it comes to its users’ privacy.
Take its latest blunder: A bug introduced into Facebook’s website code in June last year allowed hackers to log into anyone’s account with ease.
These hackers would have gained access to profile info, photos, videos, posts, private messages and more.
And the hackers would also have been able to log into any accounts linked to Facebook too, like those associated with Instagram or Messenger services.
Fears are now growing over the risk of identity fraud and blackmail, as hackers were given free access to so much information.
Facebook’s controversial early years were famously captured in the 2010 film The Social Network.
That same year, Zuckerberg shared his thoughts on the film’s unfavourable depiction of him with .
“I think a lot people will look at that stuff, you know, when I was nineteen, and say, ‘Oh, well, he was like that. . . . He must still be like that, right?’,” said the Facebook founder.
Afraid so Zuck.
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