Dark Side of
Social Networking
Ashutosh Chandra
Software Security Consultant
Abstract
Social Engineering has become a
necessity, if the person is not connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or
any other social network he is considered isolated from the society. But recent
personal data theft scandal from Facebook and few more social network platforms
present a dark side of social network.
Introduction
We all must be awaiting the outcome
of Facebook Data Scandal which has rocked the internet world and how the
compromised data is used for political and marketing purpose to influence the
user behavior. There is zillions of user data available on the internet which
ignorant users have no clue how their data can change the political landscape
of the country and also influence the marketing campaign of the companies. Personal
data theft can also present a grave security threat for the individual privacy
and also country if it goes in the hand of non-state actors. Further
categorisation of personal data has been done where such data is sensitive
enough to cause significant risks to fundamental rights and freedoms. Data is a new currency and marketers should take great care in
organizing, cultivating and nurturing this data by orchestrating around the
platforms in the technological stack, the people managing the data and the
process of deploying this data to create increased value for customers.
Spread of
Fast Speed Mobile Network
Each new wave of technology
increased productivity and access to knowledge. Each new platform was easier to
use and more convenient. Technology powered globalization and economic growth.
For decades, it made the world a better place. We assumed it always would, then
came 2016, when the Internet revealed two dark sides. One is related to
individual users. Smartphones with LTE mobile infrastructure created the first
content-delivery platform that was available every waking moment, transforming
the technology industry and the lives of two billion users.
Spread
Hate against communities
Some governments have banned social
media as they were increasingly popular approach to stabilize political turmoil
and to tighten censorship, as seen in China, Iran and North Korea. Several
weeks ago, Sri Lanka was in a state of emergency following anti-Muslim riots
that left 2 people dead and over 200 homes destroyed. Government blocked 5.5
million Facebook accounts for a week. The authorities blamed Facebook and other
social media platforms for spreading hatred, which triggered the riots.
Fake News
Other most important drawback is
the spread of fake news which is rapidly increasing due to social networking
platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube etc. Some argue that social sharing
has encouraged people use social media to express their concerns on social
issues without actually having to engage actively with campaigns in real life.
Their support is limited to pressing ‘Like’ button or sharing content.
Geo-Political
Impact
The other dark side is
geopolitical. In the United States, Western Europe, and Asia, Internet
platforms, especially Facebook, enable the powerful to inflict harm on the
powerless in politics, foreign policy, and commerce. Elections across Europe
and in the US have repeatedly demonstrated that automated social networks can
be exploited to undermine democracy.
The Brexit referendum and the US
presidential election in 2016 also revealed that Facebook provides significant
relative advantages to negative messages over positive ones. Authoritarian
governments can use Facebook to promote public support for repressive policies,
as may be occurring now in Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, India and
elsewhere. In some cases, Facebook actually provides support to such governments, as it does to all large clients.
How the Facebook
Scandal Unfolded
2010: Facebook launches open graph
which allows third-party apps to collect data, these apps could request access
to your name, age, gender, location, time zone and more
2014: Academic Alexsandr Kogan and
his company create an app called "thisisyourdigitallife" which
reportedly collected data from users and friends through this, 50 million
profiles were allegedly mined for data, Kogan allegedly then shared this data
with Cambridge Analytica.
2016: Trump hires Cambridge
Analytica, they allegedly used Kogan’s data to develop profiles of people and
deliver pro-Trump material to them online
2018: That’s according to Cambridge
Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie, both CA and FB deny doing any wrong
doing
19 Mar, 2018: FB lost $50 Billion
dollar in market value after the scandal
20 Mar, 2018: A U.K. Committee
asked Mark Zuckerberg to testify, the Federal Trade Commission is allegedly
investigating FB over handling of data
21 Mar, 2018: After days of silence
Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the scandal, “This was the major breach for
trust, and I am really sorry this has happened, our responsibility now is to
make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The saga is significant because of
the way the harvested data might have been used. It was allegedly utilized to
direct messages for political campaigns supported by Cambridge Analytica, most
notably Trump's election victory and the Brexit vote. This scandal has extended
to India and there is allegation that big political parties have used services
of Cambridge Analytica to influence elections in India as well.
Nonetheless, the role that
marketing — or Cambridge Analytica — might have had to do with either of those
political outcomes is not known. Cambridge Analytica has since denied the
allegations made in the New York Times and Observer reports.
Social Networking in India
Here is a demographic
representation of FB. India has got 241 million active Facebook users in India
has surpassed the Facebook users in US
The statistic presents the number
of Facebook users across India as of January 2017, broken down by age and
gender. The highest number of male Facebook users during the measured period
were between 18 and 24 years old and amounted to about 62 million. Among
females, the highest number of users were the same age group, amounting to
about 21 million. This data is significant and it brings forward following
observations.
- This
indicates that young generation is more digitally literate and has potential to
become a work horse for the world
- The
personal, behavior data generated by digital medium like Facebook, Google etc
can be destructive to privacy. Stalking, identity theft, personal attacks and
misuse of Information are some of the threats faced by users.
-
Cyberbullying
which is more prominent among young teenagers, with the advent of Facebook,
Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram suddenly the teenagers being subjected feeling
pressure to grow up too fast in an online world
- Social
medium is encouraging people to form and cherish artificial bonds over actual
friendships. The term ‘friend’ as used in social media lacks the intimacy
identified with conventional friendships.
Indian Government Reaction of the
Facebook Data theft.
The government today issued a
notice to Cambridge Analytica – the firm at the centre of Facebook users’ data
scandal – seeking its response by March 31 on whether it was involved in the
misuse of data to profile Indians and influence their voting behaviour.
The notice also sought the
company’s response on the entities which engaged Cambridge Analytica, the
method used by it for possession of data and whether consent was taken from
users.
“The Ministry of Electronics &
Information Technology, Government of India, has issued a notice... to Cambridge
Analytica, wherein the serious breach of propriety and misuse of data intended
to profile and influence voting behaviour has been highlighted,” the IT
ministry said in a statement
“The Government is deeply concerned
about such developments and is committed to ensure the protection of the
fundamental right of privacy and safety and security of data for every citizen
of India. There have also been imputations that such data could also have been
used to influence the behaviour of individuals,” the IT ministry statement
said.
In fact, post the recent Cambridge
Analytica and Facebook data breach controversy, the Indian government is
considering asking all global firm to ensure that data of Indians are stored
locally. Hon. PM Modi is said to have issued a directive to ensure that data
localization mandate. This directive will have ripple effect on the global IT
companies who has operations in India and this will impede the development of
IT in certain sectors
Reference:
- Economic Times – India
- Project Syndicate - https://www.project-syndicate.org/
- Harvard Business Review
- Statistica - https://www.statista.com/ provides data and facts
