TECH BREAK: Facebook’s challenges point to an ugly beast
A file illustration picture taken on April 28, 2018. Hackers stole digital keys to tens of millions of Facebook accounts. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
- Last week Facebook revealed that it had been hacked with 50 million accounts affected.
- As if this is not bad enough, Facebook is also struggling to keep Facebook Messenger encrypted as the US government tries to strong-arm them into decrypting the service, making conversations available in plain-text to the authorities.
The realities facing Facebook the company, are pointing to internal strife, that has given the company more than its fair share of negative publicity.
While the company still remains ‘too big to fail’, it is facing problems that are damaging the reputation of the company.
Last week Facebook revealed that it had been hacked with 50 million accounts affected, and with all the likelihood that there could be more users affected. That aside, the founders of Instagram, Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, announced their departure from Instagram, and Facebook, due to the nature of content appearing on the platform, as well as the implications on Facebook, brought about by probes around Russian interference in US elections.
As if this is not bad enough, Facebook is also struggling to keep Facebook Messenger encrypted as the US government tries to strong-arm them into decrypting the service, making conversations available in plain-text to the authorities.
There are also numerous advertising scandals the platform is facing. The constant challenges and press are pointing to a desperate company that is facing some of its greatest challenges with a hidden ugly beast.
How Facebook performs over the next few months and subsequently years, and how it comes out, will really test the ‘too big to fail’ theory.
