Practical insights for compliance and ethics professionals and commentary on the intersection of compliance and culture.

Corporate takedowns: Facebook and Cambridge Analytica

This is the third in a series of four posts about corporate takedowns.  The first post was about American Apparel.  Last week’s post was about Theranos.  Today’s post is about Facebook, focused on the recent Cambridge Analytica data sharing revelations.  The fourth and final post, on April 24, will discuss Gawker.

For an in-depth discussion of general compliance issues with Facebook as an online platform, check out this post.

In March 2018, The New York Times and The Guardian published a series of investigative articles exposing a data breach between the social media platform Facebook and the UK political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.  This has incited a firestorm of controversy around data sharing, privacy expectations, online community moderation practices, and ethical standards for consumer protections by companies holding their data.

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Round-up on compliance issues with online platforms: Reddit

This is the final post in a series of six on compliance issues with various online platforms.  The first post was about YouTube.  The second post was about Facebook.  The third post discussed Instagram.  The fourth post was about Twitter.  Last week’s post covered Snapchat.  Today’s post, the sixth and final post in the series, is about Reddit.

Reddit is a web-based forum where users share links to news, photos, and videos, as well as engage in social media-style discussion threads.  Founded in 2005, Reddit has become one of the most visited websites in the world.  The platform is set up as a variety of user-generated community boards called “subreddits.”  These subreddits cover a wide variety of popular culture, current event, and special interest subjects.

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Round-up on compliance issues with online platforms: YouTube

This is the first in a series of six posts on compliance issues with various online platforms.  Today’s post is about YouTube.  Next Tuesday’s post will be about Facebook.  The third post in the series, on March 22, will discuss Instagram.  The fourth post in the series, on March 29, will focus on Twitter.  The fifth post, on April 5, will be about Snapchat.  On April 12, the sixth and final post in the series will discuss Reddit.

The video hosting and sharing service YouTube was created in 2005 and is now owned by Google. YouTube contains content from both individuals as well as media corporation partners.  This content is extremely diverse, ranging from short clips to entire television shows and films as well as music videos, video blogs, live streams, and educational presentations.  YouTube also makes use of the advertising program Google AdSense and includes targeted ads on its content; most of the videos on YouTube are free to view but some ad content will appear before, during, and/or after the video plays.

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