'Facebook will never sell your information' said Zuckerberg in 2009

'Facebook will never sell your information' said Zuckerberg in 2009

Facebook will never sell your information without consent.'

That is the impression Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was keen to give during a 2009 interview, but events in recent weeks suggest that was not the whole story.

Video footage of the conversation was posted to Twitter by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

It follows revelations that the Trump-affiliated consulting firm obtained data on at least 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users.

This information was used to target voters in the US, based on psychological profiling, with political adverts spreading disinformation.

Facebook is also facing criticism for collecting years of data on call and text histories from Android users.

Snowden sent a tweet yesterday containing a video that showed Zuckerberg addressing privacy concerns on his website.

In the tweet, the former CIA computer specialist implored his followers to spread the clip beyond the social media site, attaching a download link to the original file.

The interview was conducted by the BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan, who pressed Zuckerberg on his firm's handling of data.

Their conversation ran as follows:  

Ms Trevelyan: So who is going to own the Facebook content, the person who puts it there, or you?

Zuckerberg: The person who puts the content on Facebook always owns the information, and this is why Facebook is such a special service. 

Ms Trevelyan: And you won't sell it?

Zuckerberg: No, of course not.

Ms Trevelyan: Just to be clear, you're not going to sell, or share, any of the information on Facebook?

Zuckerberg: We're not going to share people's information except for with the people that they've asked for it to be shared.

Zuckerberg's public 2009 promise is in stark contrast to his private thoughts at the time of launching his Facebook.

During an instant messenger conversation with a friend at the age of 19, he branded early users of his social network ‘dumb f***s’ for trusting him with their data.

First picked up on by the media in 2010, these comments have also re-surfaced in the wake of Cambridge Analytica.

The leaked conversation was published in a Medium blog post by journalist Maria Bustillos. 

Ms Bustillos said it shows that Zuckerberg has a long history of disregarding the privacy expectations of users over handling of their data.

The conversation, which has since been discussed widely on social media, ran as follows: 

Zuckerberg: Yea so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard, just ask. ‘i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns 

Friend: what!? how’d you manage that one? 

Zuckerberg: people just submitted it. i don’t know why. they “trust me”. dumb f***s.

Zuckerberg may have been saved from the current privacy backlash had he listened to his rival, the late Steve Jobs, it seems.

Footage of the former Apple boss warning over Facebook's handling of private data dating from 2010 has also re-appeared in recent days.

Speaking at the time of a previous privacy row involving the social network, Jobs warned that privacy rules should be spelled out in 'plain English and repeatedly.' 

Jobs made the comments at The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) All Things Digital conference, held in Los Angeles, where Zuckerberg was in the audience, waiting to be interviewed.

Walt Mossberg, the WSJ'S principal technology columnist from 1991 to 2013, asked Jobs about his thoughts on recent privacy issues around Facebook and Google, as well as Silicon Valley's stance on handling sensitive data. 

Facebook was at the time in the process of updating its privacy controls, in light of criticism that it was forcing people to share their data.

Google, meanwhile, had been accused of secretly intercepting Americans' data sent over unencrypted Wi-Fi routers during a two-year period.

In response, Jobs said: 'Silicon Valley is not monolithic. We’ve always had a very different view of privacy than some of our colleagues in the Valley.  

Privacy means people know what they’re signing up for, in plain English, and repeatedly. 

'I’m an optimist; I believe people are smart, and some people want to share more data than other people do. 

'Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data.'