The Facebook Whistleblower

Zuckerberg faces questioning on tool that tracks its users across the Internet. In November 2020, following the revelations of a company whistle-blower, Mark Zuckerberg was questioned over 'Centra' — the Facebook tool used to track its users outside of Facebook. The company previously came under fire back in 2018, when it revealed that it embeds a digital signature in photos uploaded by users to track them elsewhere within the web. During this four- and-a-half hour grilling by a Senate Committee, Zuckerberg faced allegations that Facebook shares user data with Google and Twitter. When asked, "What is the Facebook internal tool called Centra?", he replied, "Senator, I'm not aware of any tool of that name." The senator then produced a large photo of what appeared to be a covert screenshot: "Well, let this refreshes your memory." He continued, as Zuckerberg looked visibly stunned ... "Centra is a tool that Facebook uses to track its users not just on Facebook, but across the entire Internet. Centra tracks different profiles that a user visits, their message recipients, their linked accounts, the pages they visit around the web that have Facebook buttons. Centra also uses behavioural data to monitor users' accounts, even if those accounts are registered under a different name." Later, the US-based reporter Emily Birnbaum released a message via Twitter in which it appeared that Facebook confirmed the existence of Centra. The company has also received unwanted attention over the years for making great efforts not only to track its users, but also associates of its users who do not use the Facebook platform. More recently, WhatsApp, now a Facebook company, has also received unwelcome attention that prompted the migration of its users to alternative messaging platforms such as Signal' and Telegram'. In the early days of social media, the concept of 'Big Data' was generally unknown. Today, many are waking up to concerns over data collection and privacy. Photos, comments, likes and status updates provide a vast quantity of data that is highly valued and even traded between companies. With they know what we look like, who our friends are, where we are, what we are doing, our likes and dislikes, our interests and perhaps more than we can imagine.