Mark Zuckerberg looses $billions as Facebook shares fall

Facebook lost shares as the social media giant faced criticism attack on Monday at both local and international area over revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign harvested and misused data on 50 million members.

On Wall Street, Facebook shares slided 6.8 percent in the middle of pressure for new regulations that could hurt its business model. The share plunge erased $5billion from the net worth of Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg as calls for investigations came on both sides of the Atlantic after Facebook responded to the explosive reports of misuse of its data by suspending the account of Cambridge Analytical, a British firm hired by Trump’s 2016 campaign. 

Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar and Republican John Kennedy called on Mark Zuckerberg to appear before Congress, along with the CEOs of Google and Twitter. The two lawmakers said the companies have gathered unprecedented amounts of personal data and lack oversight, raises concerns about the integrity of American elections as well as privacy rights.

Senator Ron Wyden asked Facebook to provide more information on what he called a “troubling” misuse of private data that could have been used to move voters.  Wyden said he wants to know how Cambridge Analytical used Facebook tools “to make weapons detailed psychological profiles against tens of millions of Americans.” 

Similarly in Europe, the European commissioner for justice, consumers and gender equality. Vera Jourova called the revelations “horrifying, if confirmed,” and promised to address concerns in the United States this week.  In Britain, parliamentary committee chair Damian Collins said both Cambridge Analytical and Facebook had questions to answer. 

“We have repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from their site, and in particular whether data had been taken from people without their consent,” Collins said in a statement. Their answers have consistently understated this risk, and have also been misleading to the committee.”
 
The Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytical,  Alexander Nix has denied misusing Facebook data for its work on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Brian Wieser at Pivotal Research said the revelations highlight “systemic problems at Facebook,” but that they will not impact the social network’s revenues immediately.