I'm tuning into Facebook's annual shareholder meeting, which is being webcast here: investor.fb.com/investor-event…
A fiery meeting so far. Someone already kicked out for interrupting. "Facebook’s poor stewardship of user data is tantamount to a human rights violation," one investor says. "Scandal is not good for the company's bottom line," another says.
Zuckerberg starts out by talking about all the good Facebook has done. Then says "we didn't do enough to be proactive about how people can abuse these tools as well" and "need to take a broader view of our responsibility." He has said that like 46 times in the last 2 mos.
"we're also very focused on being more transparent," Zuckerberg says, after voting down a couple shareholder proposals to increase transparency.
Lots of applause in the room. Moving now to Q&A. People get one minute per question. Jesse Jackson is first (on diversity and on elections)
The company says they agree with him on diversity and will be making sure to look at diverse candidates for all board member appointments going forward.
Facebook gets asked about diversity of ideas -- namely, can they please hire more conservatives to protect against bias?
Zuckerberg says he understands the concerns but "I don't think the concerns are necessarily founded." FB is moderated by people following strict guidelines.
Zuckerberg says he understands the concerns but "I don't think the concerns are necessarily founded." FB is moderated by people following strict guidelines.
Zuckerberg says they've been proactively asking people if they want the ads they're served to be informed by other websites and apps they use. "The vast majority say yes," he says. Data collection = better ads = what people want, he says.
A q on housing. Facebook says about half the people coming to their Menlo Park HQ aren't coming in cars. It's buses, and then other possible solutions. The Dumbarton corridor, maybe even ferries, that they could invest in. Genentech and Google are thinking the same way.
FB says that just because the board/Zuckerberg voted down all shareholder proposals doesn't mean they don't agree with the ideas. They just don't think it's the right way to implement solutions. A shareholder interrupts and says that's not enough -- engage with your investors.
Why is Facebook always on the defensive? one shareholder asks
"The media just keeps punching Facebook as if it’s all Facebook’s fault, which, I don’t think it is." Suggests more proactive marketing/training.
"The media just keeps punching Facebook as if it’s all Facebook’s fault, which, I don’t think it is." Suggests more proactive marketing/training.
Zuckerberg says, about all of the negative news and critique, "I don't agree with all of it but I think some of it is very fair." He wants FB to be a company seen as taking responsibility first, before pushing that onto its users, "as part of the culture we want to build here."
My recap: bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
