GOOP Digital has comprised a chronological recap of Facebook’s evolution and how it began the plunge into lawsuit mayhem!
2003
Facebook’s precursor, ‘Facemash’ was the first creation by Mark Zuckerberg. This platform was used to compare the looks of Harvard students by clicking a ‘hot’ or ‘not’ button. Zuckerberg fronts the Harvard Administrative Board accused of security breaches, copyright violations and more in relation to the Facemash site. The site was later sold for over US$30,000.
2004
The Facebook – a system created for Harvard students to familiarise themselves with one another. Created by Mark Zuckerberg and friends in his dorm room.
2005
The Facebook was used by 800 students college-wide.
Now named “Facebook”, dropping “The”.
2006
A mini-feed was created showing activities of other connected users.
Facebook was offered to anyone with an email address and grew beyond the Harvard walls.
Facebook created a mobile version! Who remembers scrolling through on your Motorola RAZR?
2007
BEACON was launched – a program that used personal information such as online purchases and video rentals and shared them with third party sites. Trouble is, the sharing was non-consensual. A class action lawsuit was filed and Facebook paid $9.5 million to settle the deal.
Facebook introduced a minimum user age of 13 years old.
2008
A clearer menu was created.
A complaint was filed with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada regarding the collection of personal information without users’ knowledge. Facebook was found to be “in contravention of the country’s Personal Information Privacy Electronic Document Act”.
The “home page” was created.
The caption bar encouraged you to tell Facebook (and the world) “what’s on your mind”.
The LIKE button was introduced.
Users were told they “can’t delete data” when they deactivate their accounts.
This was later revisited when Zuckerberg claimed to not intend to give the impression that Facebook owned their users’ data.
2009
Have you tried the “what personality are you” or “what is your suited career” quizzes? Quiz apps were investigated for breaching privacy agreements. The risk was brought to users’ attention by the American Civil Liberties Union.
A complaint is filed in regards to Facebook’s privacy settings by Electronic Privacy Information Centre, United States.
2010
Celebrities and companies could now invite people to follow their profiles.
Four senators call for Facebook’s policies to be revised and changed to protect privacy.
The ‘Instant Personalization” app gave personal information to third parties and was reported to the Norwegian Data Protection agency regarding the app’s permission settings
2011
The “timeline” was created, making it easier to read one’s activity in chronological order.
Cover images are now a ‘thing’.
The activity/newsfeed was changed to real time.
Video calling was enabled.
”Subscribe” was launched – and is now known as ‘follow’.
Facebook branched into private messaging.
Facebook was flagged in Ireland by lawyer and privacy campaigner Max Schrems in relation to app permission. Facebook assured users that third-party applications only had access to data that was required for the app to be able to function – however, further investigation showed that apps actually accessed ALL of the users’ private information. Facebook agreed to request users’ consent to share their information to third parties. This initiated Facebook’s privacy program which blocks access to users’ accounts within 30 days of it being deleted. Privacy audits are to be taken out every two years by Facebook to ensure the utmost privacy and security of the platform’s users. Facebook escaped a fine.
2012
Instagram was launched.
Facebook turned off facial recognition in Europe due to privacy concerns after the investigation generated by M. Schrems in 2011 and involving Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.
Custom audiences were created to assist companies to target their preferred audience.
Larger photos were featured.
2013
Partner Categories is launched. Ad targeting is enriched by third party data being stored by data broker companies. This access was turned off.
2014
An Application Program Interface (API) that enabled developers to use users’ friends’ data, without their consent or even knowledge is shut down – but, only for new developers. Existing developers were still able to access information for another year post shut down.
Visibility of users’ profiles settings are defaulted to “friends only”, rather than public.
Professor Aleksandr Kogan runs a test app with about 10,000 Facebook users. His company, GSR, then signs a data-licensing contract with Cambridge Analytica. Data is supplied to them including the psychological profiles of US voters. The app was downloaded by almost 300,000 Facebook users and gathered the information of 87 million people! This data was non-consensual and gathered without the knowledge of profile owners.
June, 2014, a study is undertaken by Facebook’s data scientists about the happiness levels of their 700,000 users in regards to positive and negative newsfeed items. Facebook did not request consent from the users’ whose data was obtained.
2015
Facebook is found to have breached the EU privacy law by failing to obtain consent from users before storing and using their personal data.
Facebook shuts down the API used by Kogan – however, all the data has already been sent through to Cambridge Analytica.
On a less serious note, “Trending” topics are added to the sidebar.
2016
Uh-oh! A formal order is filed against Facebook by the French data protection authority. This covers the tracking of web browsing details and data collection without consent, including political sensitive details.
WhatsApp and Facebook share data – but include an opt-out option.
Facebook then decides to pause some data-sharing between Facebook and WhatsApp.
The French watchdog files a ‘formal warning’ against Facebook for carrying out data sharing for ‘business intelligence’ reasons.
Assumptions are made that the outcome of the US election was persuaded by ‘fake news’ on Facebook. This was labelled as “a pretty crazy idea” by Zuckerberg, but he later regretfully admits that this was the case. .
Facebook ‘Reaction’ emoji’s were added. Seen newsfeed content is now influenced by the reactions of users.
2017
May – Facebook is fined a whopping $122 million in Europe for sharing “incorrect and misleading” information.
Sept – Facebook is fined another $1.4 million by Spain’s privacy authority for the collection of data without consent. Facebook intended to appeal.
Oct – Facebook announced that information from as many as 126 million Facebook users might have been obtained through Russian interference.
2018
Facebook re-tests banned facial recognition system in the UK and Europe.
Facebook is accused of breaching the 2011 Privacy Consent Agreement.
Feb – Belgian courts launch another legal battle in regards to the tracking of users’ information without consent.
March – Former Cambridge Analytica employee Chris Wylie is interviewed and suggests Facebooks’ users’ could have had their information potentially passed onto Cambridge Analytica without consent. The Cambridge Analytica Facebook account is immediately suspended, including Kogan’s and Wylie’s accounts.
Zuckerberg responds but does not explain the delay in investigating the information-sharing scandal.
The FTC confirms the reinvestigation of Facebook and its practices in relation to information sharing.
Lawsuits increase.
April – Facebook admits that up to 2 billion users could have had their information used. The feature used was disabled, with Facebook claiming the feature was abused by “malicious actors”.
UK’s privacy authority investigated the use of personal data and analytics as a part of a 30-company investigation.
As many as 470 Russian troll accounts have been shut down amid suspicion of influencing the US election.
Zuckerberg agreed to testify in front of Congress.
The Canadian and British privacy authorities combine investigations into Facebook’s privacy breaches. The investigation also looks at a local data firm, AggregateIQ which is linked with Cambridge Analytica.
Affected users are notified if their data has been used throughout the previously mentioned scandals.
Today
After 4 hours and questions from 44 senators, Zuckerberg has apologised, taken full responsibility for the security breaches and has committed to a full audit of apps with suspicious activity. He said: “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibilities and that was a big mistake.”
Zuckerberg will employ 5000 security workers at Facebook. However, the new employees will come at a large cost to the platform. Potentially, Zuckerberg has said that users might need to pay to NOT see ads on the platform in order to continue as a healthy business model.
Surely, the sixth richest man in the world, according to Forbes magazine, is able to stretch his wealth to ensure the privacy of the billions of Facebook’s users!
We have also learnt that Mark Zuckerberg’s own data was shared with Cambridge Analytica.
If you are unsure of your security settings or if your data has been accessed, then please call our Geelong social media team on (03) 5222 4220.