The note published by Mark Zuckerberg on 6 March 2019 sets out the new approach Facebook aims to take for its communications services. It will be more focused on privacy and less on public sharing compared to the past, reflecting on new demands of the market and taking on board some of the lessons of the past. However, the plan could fall short of addressing the issues identified by regulators, which no longer see privacy in isolation from competition problems. The promise of full-encryption across platforms is also likely to face regulatory challenges.
Zuckerberg outlined six principles for a privacy-focused platform
On 6 March 2019, Mark Zuckerberg published a note to make a seemingly game-changing statement about the future of Facebook and the platforms belonging to it. The note’s title (‘A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking’) signalled the intention to put privacy at the heart of how the company will operate and provide its services in the future, while at the same time admitting this has been one of the major shortcomings of the company until present (“frankly we don't currently have a strong reputation for building privacy protective services”). Zuckerberg recognises a shift in market demands, from an appetite for public and open sharing toward a future of mainly private, encrypted services where users need to be confident that their messages are not read by anyone else and can be easily removed after a while.
As a result, Zuckerberg identifies six principles around which Facebook will build a privacy-focused platform: private interactions, encryption, reducing permanence, safety, interoperability, and secure data storage. Some of these principles (in particular, the time-limited permanence of messages) resemble the characteristics of Snapchat, a service that Facebook tried to buy out in the past without success, which in recent years has proved to be more popular than Facebook among the youngest groups of users. With regard to interoperability, Zuckerberg confirms Facebook’s intention to integrate the messaging platforms of Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp so that users can send messages from one platform to another.
Facebook aims to reassure users and regulators in order to preserve its business model
Reports of Zuckerberg’s intention to integrate the three messaging platforms started to emerge in January 2019, and almost immediately triggered the response of some regulators. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which is the lead data protection authority for Facebook in the EU, asked for an ‘urgent brief’ and promised close scrutiny of Facebook’s plans as they involve sharing and merging of personal data between different platforms. However, as we recently noted, the issue is unlikely to be limited to privacy aspects, as competition aspects are likely to come into play and the relevant regulators have already shown to be on the case.
To this end, the promise to deliver a more privacy-friendly communications experience is likely to be a necessary trade-off for Facebook, which will aim to win back users’ trust and, consequently, ease regulatory pressure as it presses ahead with the integration. However, it is also clear that the company is not prepared to make radical changes to its business model, which is in fact trying to defend from regulatory disruption. Among the six principles identified by Zuckerberg for the new integrated platform, no mention is made of what changes will face the practices of data sharing to third parties, and of the consequent profiling and targeting for advertising. In other words, what caused the scandals which put the company under the spotlight in the last two years remains, for the time being, unaddressed. Accordingly, while the company has repeatedly conceded it need to be regulated, it is directing its lobbying efforts to ensure that rules do not stifle the key aspects of its model. In Europe, where the threat of prescriptive regulation is stronger, Nick Clegg is engaging proactively with policy makers to avoid such an outcome.
Encryption will be welcomed by many, but it could face obstacles from governments
Zuckerberg’s promise of full-encryption in messaging will no doubt appeal to the more privacy-savvy users of messaging services. After all, WhatsApp has been using end-to-end encryption for some time now, which means one of the three platforms (namely, the one which has messaging at its core) is already adopting that principle. “In the last year, I've spoken with dissidents who've told me encryption is the reason they are free, or even alive”, says Zuckerberg in his note. However, he admits that encryption also guarantees the privacy of bad actors, and that Facebook has a responsibility to cooperate with law enforcement agencies to tackle and prevent crime. Zuckerberg admits the company is yet to finalise how to roll out these systems and will consult with experts and governments on the matter.
On encryption, governments are taking different stances, some of which could jeopardise Facebook’s ability to operate in certain markets. Full end-to-end encryption is currently possible in most countries (although China, Russia, and Turkey have banned it explicitly) but some governments have repeatedly tried to make exceptions, which could de facto end up voiding the effectiveness of encryption. For example, the Australian parliament passed a law in December 2018 to ensure authorities are able to access encrypted communications; and, while encryption is supported under the proposed reform of the European e-privacy rules, which ensure the secrecy of communications, governments across the world continue to push for exceptions to make sure enforcement agencies have easy access to the information they need. The European Commission has recently stated it does not plan to legislate on encryption, and proposed six measures to circumvent the problem it poses; however, this is a fast-moving area in which countries are taking patchy and inconsistent approaches, which could in turn cause headaches for industry.
