Mark Zuckerberg would 'love to see' ad transparency regulation

In an interview this morning with CNN, Mark Zuckerberg profusely apologized on behalf of Facebook, for the role his company played in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“This was a major breach of trust and I’m really sorry this happened,” said Zuckerberg. “Our responsibility now is to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

The comments followed an industry-wide uproar about how third-party developers are privy to the data of Facebook users, wherein it was revealed that the personal data of more than 50 million Facebook users was used by a company that specializes in turning the tide of elections.

During the interview with CNN, Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook did not follow up enough with Cambridge Analytica after learning about the data mining, adding that Facebook had received what appeared to be a formal certification that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the data collected.

This, it appears, was far from the case.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m used to when people legally certify that they are going to do something, that they do it," said Zuckerberg. "But I think this was clearly a mistake in retrospect."

Zuckerberg said that he doesn't think businesses such as Facebook should be excused from regulation, adding that he would love to see ad transparency regulation.

As a means of preventing further data mining of its users, Zuckerberg said that Facebook will impose user data restrictions on app developers and publishers and is willing to conduct audits with thousands of apps that have acquired Facebook user data to date.

He also said Facebook will do more to notify users of apps "doing sketchy things".

(This article first appeared on CampaignAsia.com)