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Facebook losing face

September 6, 2018.

Mark Zuckerberg.

Mark Zuckerberg. © iStock.

It looks like the Cambridge Analytica debacle just won’t quit. A few months back, it was revealed that the former consulting firm had collected data on millions of Facebook users without their consent. Now, a recent survey shows that in the past 12 months, 74% of Facebook-using adults have adjusted their privacy settings, taken a break from checking the platform for a period of several weeks or more, or deleted the Facebook app from their cellphone. Worse yet for Facebook, the percentage of younger users (those ages 18 to 29) who say they have deleted the Facebook app from their phone in the past year is 44%, nearly four times the share of users aged 65 and older (12%). No surprise, then, that Facebook stock now sits at US$167.20, a new low since July 26, when its value tumbled overnight from US$217.50 to US$175. Not Mark’s best year.

Pew Search Center, “Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook.”