Americans think Facebook's response to data drama is unacceptable
People are totally unsurprised by Facebook's failure to protect their data and are skeptical about its ability to do so in future, according a poll by CBS News.
Mark Zuckerberg's apology -- including full-page ads in newspapers -- may not have resonated.
Facebook's failure to properly protect user data might have spawned headlines the world over, but Americans are not totally shocked by the revelations, according to a poll by CBS News.
That doesn't mean they're letting the social network off the hook, though. Poll respondents think the company's response to the scandal, triggered by revelations about Cambridge Analytica's access to the data of 87 million Facebook users, has been unacceptable, and they also seriously doubt the company can protect them in future.
CBS News (a corporate sibling of CNET) revealed the results of the poll just as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is due to testify to Congress Tuesday and Wednesday about the company's role in potential data mining and meddling during the 2016 presidential election. He was summoned to give evidence after Facebook was forced to acknowledge in March that data about those millions of users was shared without their permission.
Eight in ten Americans who took the poll said they weren't surprised to discover outside companies got hold of their data, and 63 percent believe their Facebook data is currently unsafe, they told CBS News.
For some, it has changed their behavior. Over 25 percent of respondents said they changed their privacy setting following the revelations, and 36 percent said they use Facebook less than before.
They don't have much faith in Facebook's ability to fix its problems either: Six in 10 think the government should increase regulations for technology platforms.
Facebook started rolling out damage control measures, including introducing an updated data policy, in the days after the revelations first came to light. But it seems the mammoth social network still has some distance to go yet when it comes to building people's trust in the service.
Facebook did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Cambridge Analytica: Everything you need to know about Facebook's data mining scandal.
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