Facebook Under Fire for Not Disclosing Data Sharing Arrangements

Facebook faced more flak and backlash, this time from US lawmakers, for not disclosing that it had data sharing arrangements with manufacturers of smart phones and other devices around the world. Of particular concern was the agreement that the social media giant had with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., a Chinese phone manufacturer and third largest in the world. The questions being asked of Facebook, and particularly of its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, who only in April provided testimony to a joint Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, are why this information was not disclosed during this hearing, and why users were not informed of these developments.

Responding to this, Facebook has said that such arrangements and general information surrounding them were part of the public domain, and being highly visible and therefore accessible, there was no question of keeping any of this information from the government or users. In the ten hours that Zuckerberg did testify before these committees, never was there any question or concern raised about these strategic alliances geared to create a better user experience for Facebook users, on their smart devices.

Several senators from both sides of the political spectrum have raised serious concerns about the data being shared with companies in China, the total number of these being four. Some have gone even further to highlight the fact that Huawei has been deemed a threat to national security by several military advisors, adding much unnecessary woe to a situation that looks like Facebook has once again breached public trust without overtly doing so, as the company would have its public believe.