On Tuesday, an early Facebook investor said the revelations of Russian propaganda during the 2016 presidential election have increased his worries about the personal data collected by the tech giant.
According to Facebook (NASDAQ:$FB), roughly 150 million Americans witnessed or came into contact with content or advertisements from manipulative Russian-based accounts. Additionally, there are a number of Russian state actors that are suspected of trying to sway the election through platforms such as Google (NASDAQ:$GOOGL) and Twitter (NYSE:$TWTR).
“Those people have all been Zucked. They’ve all had their brains altered, and they’ve come to believe things that weren’t true. And I want Facebook to contact every one of them,” Roger McNamee said. McNamee is clearly referencing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
McNamee talked to CNBC on Tuesday stating:
“I don’t know if I would have seen it if it hadn’t been for the Russian thing. It was only because weird things were going on in the election that I even noticed something was weird.”
The solution? McNamee thinks Facebook should contact every person that came into contact with Russian propaganda on the site. Additionally, he said it is crucial that Congress asks the CEOs to come in for a meeting and discuss any Russian election meddling in public.
“The thing that’s so different about Facebook and Google is they have personal data on every adult and most young people,” the long-time Facebook and Google investor said. “They are going straight into the brain of 2 billion people, and we don’t have evolutionary defenses for that.”
Featured Image: depositphotos/IgorTishenko
