2 Glum Headlines for Zuckerberg

Unflattering deepfake video will survive, and there may be troubling emails
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2019 1:23 PM CDT
2 Glum Headlines for Zuckerberg
In this April 30, 2019, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes the keynote speech at F8, Facebook's developer conference in San Jose, Calif.   (AP Photo/Tony Avelar, File)

Mark Zuckerberg is no stranger to unflattering headlines, and Wednesday proved to be no exception. Two stories getting play:

  • "Facebook Worries Emails Could Show Zuckerberg Knew of Questionable Privacy Practices": This Wall Street Journal report relies on anonymous sources who say that the company has come across emails connecting Zuckerberg with "potentially problematic privacy practices" at Facebook. The Journal didn't see the emails and so it isn't sure whether they might indicate the company knowingly violated its 2012 consent decree with the FTC (the company agreed to be better about user privacy) and whether Zuckerberg knew about it. The FTC is currently digging into the Cambridge Analytica scandal and whether the decree was violated. Facebook wants to settle, and these alleged emails "could complicate efforts on both sides to resolve the matter."

  • "Facebook lets deepfake Zuckerberg video stay on Instagram": The BBC reports that a deepfake Zuckerberg video—where AI software is used to manipulate the likeness of a person and change what they appear to be saying—that started gaining attention on Tuesday won't be coming down. Motherboard first flagged the clip, created for an art installation in the UK called Spectre. In it, the Facebook CEO appears to be telling CBS (via a superimposed voice that isn't the best impression), "Imagine this for a second: one man, with total control of billions of people's stolen data, all their secrets, their lives, their futures. I owe it all to Spectre. Spectre showed me that whoever controls the data controls the future." Facebook's statement: "If third-party fact-checkers mark it as false, we will filter it from Instagram's recommendation surfaces like Explore and hashtag pages."
(More Mark Zuckerberg stories.)

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