Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg makes the keynote speech at F8, Facebook’s developer conference in San Jose, California. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)ASSOCIATED PRESS
As one of the leading tech companies in the world, Facebook has been discussing and dabbling with the emerging blockchain technology for a few years now. CEO Mark Zuckerberg began this journey by saying, in early 2018, that he would be looking into blockchain technology and how it can decentralise the internet.
From there, Facebook has not turned its back on the prosperous technology, looking for ways in which it can help boost their enterprise and social media market share. The company recently moved David Marcus, who was formerly the VP of Messenger, over to a new task team instructed to figure out the best ways to leverage blockchain within Facebook.
It appears that the team has now been looking into how Facebook can integrate blockchain technology into its login and data-sharing systems; an issue that needs sorting out as Facebook has come under massive scrutiny in the past for data scandals.
Zuckerberg, in an interview with Harvard Law professor Jonathan Zittrain, said he is “potentially interested” in putting the Facebook login on the blockchain as well as implementing a blockchain system “that’s fully distributed” which could let individuals pick and choose which apps to allow access to and limit the amount of data shared.
First signs
While there have been stories doing the rounds, suggesting Facebook would be launching its own cryptocurrency, as reported by Cheddar, this statement from the CEO is the first tangible indication that Facebook could be implementing blockchain to help boost its enterprise.
It also indicates areas of concern that Facebook is looking to shore up with the emerging technology, and these concerning areas are well documented.
In the interview, Zuckerberg said that authentication was a use of blockchain that he is potentially interested in. However, he caveated it by saying: “I haven’t found a way for this to work.”
He added:
“You basically take your information, you store it on some decentralized system, and you have the choice of whether to log in in different places, and you’re not going through an intermediary.”
“There’s a lot of things that I think would be quite attractive about that. For developers, one of the things that is really troubling about working with our system, or Google’s system for that matter, or having to deliver services through Apple’s App Store is that you don’t want to have an intermediary between serving the people who are using your service and you.”
“Where someone can just say ‘hey, we as a developer have to follow your policy and if we don’t, then you can cut off access to the people we are serving’. That’s kind of a difficult and troubling position to be in.”
Data protection is key.
Facebook’s data scandal, through Cambridge Analytica, was a massive black mark on the social media company that led to Zuckerberg having to go up against a congressional hearing. Thus, it is unsurprising that the company has data protection high on its agenda.
There are of course other ways in which data can be protected, with numerous third-party services developed expressly to secure one’s data. However, if Facebook is going to embark on a blockchain journey, this one will be quite revolutionary and would go a long way to boosting their enterprise by alleviating data sharing concerns.
“In a fully distributed system, there’d be nobody who could cut off their access. A fully distributed system empowers individuals on the one hand, but it really raises the stakes,” added Zuckerberg.
Those stakes he talks of is referring to third-party apps as it would also mean that in the event of a massive data breach like the Cambridge Analytica one, third-party apps that violated privacy could still run freely.
“It’s a lot easier to hold accountable large companies like Facebook or Google rather than a series of third-party apps. You’d also have more cases of abuse, and the recourse would be much harder.”