Following the huge data scandal regarding Cambridge Analytica mishandling of Facebook data on millions of users, Mozilla Corp decided to scrap all its ads from the social media platform. If other companies follow suit, Facebook could start losing ad dollars at record pace.
Mozilla announced the decision in a blog post. The tech company explained that the Cambridge Analytica scandal prompted it to “take a closer look at Facebook’s current default privacy settings.” Mozilla underlined that its ad dollars are supporting a platform that does not guarantee user privacy.
We found that its current default settings leave access open to a lot of data, particularly with respect to settings for third party apps,
Mozilla wrote in the blog post.
This is why the company decided to halt advertising on Facebook. So far, Mozilla is the only major firm to pull out its ads from the platform. However, there any many other that are considering the move.
Facebook Troubles in the U.K. Are Just Starting
In the U.K., the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) started an inquiry into Facebooks privacy policy practices. ISBA announced that a meeting with Facebook’s company executives to decide on what to do next is planned for this week.
A spokesperson for the group said that ISBA leadership seeks reassurances for members that the Facebook scandal will be properly handled and advertisers and the public are safe. ISBA includes 3,000 member-companies like P&G and Unilever.
If those companies decide to pull out their ad dollars too, Facebook could land in a difficult situation. The company is currently valued at $500 billion after losing $50 billion in the first days of the data scandal.
ISBA expressed concerns that other apps that run on the Facebook platform have harvested user data behind users’ backs. The trade body believes that the data might be currently misused elsewhere too, and is seeking reassurances from Facebook executives that that is not the case.
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