Facebook lawyer: users should not expect privacy on Facebook or any other social media platform

Facebook lawyer argued that users' right to privacy is forfeit as they are, basically, sharing their thoughts with everyone online

A lawyer for Facebook has told a judge in the US court that Facebook didn't invade the privacy of users as "there is no privacy" on Facebook - or any other social media.

Facebook lawyer Orin Snyder made the comments at a hearing for a class action lawsuit against the world's largest social media network this week. Snyder was responding to complaints by Facebook users that their personal data had been misused by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The complainants claim that Facebook had invaded users' privacy by allowing third parties to harvest the personal data of approximately 87 million users.

But Snyder demanded that the court dismiss the suit, stating that Facebook users had already given their consent to share their data with third parties.

You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy

"There is no invasion of privacy at all, because there is no privacy," Snyder told US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria, according to Law360. "You have to closely guard something to have a reasonable expectation of privacy," he said.

Snyder said that users' right to privacy is forfeit as soon as they share something with a large crowd of people.

While Snyder admitted that Facebook had exposed users' data to third parties, he tried to convince the judge that users on any social media platform should not expect privacy for the data they openly publish online.

Snyder's statements are contrary to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's statements made at shareholder meeting. In it, Zuckerberg stressed his commitment to build a "privacy-focused social platform" and to protect users' private data.

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"One of the big themes that we're going to be pushing on for the next five to ten years is building out this vision of a privacy-focused social platform," Zuckerberg told shareholders.

Facebook is currently facing intense scrutiny from government agencies and privacy protection groups over its handling of users' data.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is carrying out a probe to determine whether Facebook violated a 2011 agreement with the US government, in which the company had promised to keep all user data private and to get users' permission before sharing their data with third parties.

The social media platform came at the centre of a scandal in April last year when it was revealed that Facebook inappropriately shared data of about 87 million users with British consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.

The company said that it had directed Cambridge Analytica to delete all users' data, but that advice was not followed, according to reports.

Last month, Facebook announced that it had set aside $3 billion to pay a possible penalty related to the FTC investigation.

According to some reports, Facebook is now in talks with the FTC over its privacy policies and may soon reach an agreement that would put it under oversight by the US watchdog for as long as 20 years.

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