[{"innerBlocks":[],"name":"core\/freeform","postId":2250,"blockType":{"name":"core\/freeform","keywords":[],"attributes":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"providesContext":[],"usesContext":[],"selectors":[],"supports":{"className":false,"customClassName":false,"reusable":false},"styles":[],"variations":[],"apiVersion":3,"title":"Classic","description":"Use the classic WordPress editor.","category":"text"},"originalContent":"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent two days on the hot seat getting grilled by members of Congress regarding the social media company\u2019s use of consumer data. In separate Senate and House hearings last week, Zuckerberg was both apologetic and defiant in response to questions and allegations from lawmakers about Facebook\u2019s abuse of personal information collected by the online platform.

Zuckerberg was specifically called to Washington to respond to the Cambridge Analytics scandal and Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. However, he was more broadly questioned about Facebook\u2019s sharing of sensitive consumer data\u2014including health information\u2014with third parties.

Apps that collect information from consumers\u2014and not on behalf a provider, health plan or healthcare clearinghouse\u2014are not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as either a covered entity or business associate. As a result, developers are not required under HIPAA to protect the privacy and security of consumers\u2019 data, which is not considered protected health information (PHI). It\u2019s a loophole that has gotten the attention of lawmakers in the Zuckerberg hearings.

Congress is now looking to better protect the online privacy of Americans and their data. As a result, Facebook and other social media companies could be hit with more stringent regulations and greater scrutiny of their operations when it comes to their handling of consumer data.

Below are the top six health data privacy takeaways from Zuckerberg\u2019s congressional testimony:

Tougher privacy legislation on way<\/b>
The Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly (BROWSER) Act, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would require both Internet service providers and \u201cedge service\u201d vendors\u2014such as Facebook\u2014to give consumers opt-in or opt-out rights for sharing certain sensitive data with third parties including health information. The bill designates the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the nation\u2019s sole online privacy enforcer and treats ISPs and edge providers equally. Blackburn and other legislators urged Zuckerberg to support the BROWSER Act. \u201cWe will review it and get back to you,\u201d he replied.

Lack of HIPAA oversight when it comes to consumer data is an issue<\/b>
Congresswoman Blackburn and other lawmakers do not believe that Facebook\u2019s self-policing is enough to ensure that consumer data\u2014such as health information\u2014is sufficiently protected. \u201cA constituent of mine who\u2019s a benefits manager brought up a great question,\u201d Blackburn told Zuckerberg. \u201cShe said in healthcare you\u2019ve got HIPAA, you\u2019ve got Gramm-Leach-Bliley, you\u2019ve got the Fair Credit Reporting Act\u2014these are all compliance documents for privacy for other sectors of the industry. She was stunned that there are no privacy documents that apply to you all.\u201d

Questions about Facebook\u2019s use of consumer data remain<\/b>
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) charged that a \u201cdevil\u2019s bargain has been struck\u201d by consumers who use Facebook. \u201cFacebook now has evolved to a place where you are tracking everyone. You are collecting data on just about everybody,\u201d Castor told Zuckerberg. \u201cYou\u2019re tracking everyone\u2019s online activities\u2014their searches, you can track what people buy, correct? You\u2019re collecting that data\u2014what people purchase online. You\u2019re collecting medical data, correct, on people that are on the Internet\u2014whether they\u2019re Facebook users or not.\u201d However, Zuckerberg disagreed with that characterization.

Facebook has taken steps to protect consumers, but needs to do more<\/b>
While Zuckerberg said Facebook made \u201cbig changes\u201d in 2014 to dramatically restrict the amount of data that developers can access and to proactively review the apps on its platform, he told lawmakers that the company is doing more. \u201cWe\u2019re removing developers\u2019 access to your data if you haven\u2019t used their app in three months,\u201d Zuckerberg said. \u201cWe\u2019re reducing the data you give an app when you approve it to only your name, profile photo, and email address\u2014that\u2019s a lot less than apps can get on any other major app platform. We\u2019re requiring developers to not only get approval but also to sign a contract that imposes strict requirements in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data.\u201d

Facebook looking to artificial intelligence to help with content review<\/b>
Zuckerberg acknowledged in his testimony that Facebook should have spotted Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections much earlier than it did. \u201cWe\u2019re working hard to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d he said, including leveraging artificial intelligence to prevent abuse. \u201cSince 2016, we have improved our techniques to prevent nation states from interfering in foreign elections, and we\u2019ve built more advanced AI tools to remove fake accounts more generally,\u201d added Zuckerberg. \u201cThere have been a number of important elections since then where these new tools have been successfully deployed.\u201d

Security is a technology area in which Facebook is making major investments <\/b>
\u201cWe now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review. We\u2019ll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year,\u201d Zuckerberg testified. \u201cI\u2019ve directed our teams to invest so much in security\u2014on top of the other investments we\u2019re making\u2014that it will significantly impact our profitability going forward. But I want to be clear about what our priority is: protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.\u201d","saveContent":"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent two days on the hot seat getting grilled by members of Congress regarding the social media company\u2019s use of consumer data. In separate Senate and House hearings last week, Zuckerberg was both apologetic and defiant in response to questions and allegations from lawmakers about Facebook\u2019s abuse of personal information collected by the online platform.

Zuckerberg was specifically called to Washington to respond to the Cambridge Analytics scandal and Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. However, he was more broadly questioned about Facebook\u2019s sharing of sensitive consumer data\u2014including health information\u2014with third parties.

Apps that collect information from consumers\u2014and not on behalf a provider, health plan or healthcare clearinghouse\u2014are not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as either a covered entity or business associate. As a result, developers are not required under HIPAA to protect the privacy and security of consumers\u2019 data, which is not considered protected health information (PHI). It\u2019s a loophole that has gotten the attention of lawmakers in the Zuckerberg hearings.

Congress is now looking to better protect the online privacy of Americans and their data. As a result, Facebook and other social media companies could be hit with more stringent regulations and greater scrutiny of their operations when it comes to their handling of consumer data.

Below are the top six health data privacy takeaways from Zuckerberg\u2019s congressional testimony:

Tougher privacy legislation on way<\/b>
The Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly (BROWSER) Act, introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), would require both Internet service providers and \u201cedge service\u201d vendors\u2014such as Facebook\u2014to give consumers opt-in or opt-out rights for sharing certain sensitive data with third parties including health information. The bill designates the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as the nation\u2019s sole online privacy enforcer and treats ISPs and edge providers equally. Blackburn and other legislators urged Zuckerberg to support the BROWSER Act. \u201cWe will review it and get back to you,\u201d he replied.

Lack of HIPAA oversight when it comes to consumer data is an issue<\/b>
Congresswoman Blackburn and other lawmakers do not believe that Facebook\u2019s self-policing is enough to ensure that consumer data\u2014such as health information\u2014is sufficiently protected. \u201cA constituent of mine who\u2019s a benefits manager brought up a great question,\u201d Blackburn told Zuckerberg. \u201cShe said in healthcare you\u2019ve got HIPAA, you\u2019ve got Gramm-Leach-Bliley, you\u2019ve got the Fair Credit Reporting Act\u2014these are all compliance documents for privacy for other sectors of the industry. She was stunned that there are no privacy documents that apply to you all.\u201d

Questions about Facebook\u2019s use of consumer data remain<\/b>
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) charged that a \u201cdevil\u2019s bargain has been struck\u201d by consumers who use Facebook. \u201cFacebook now has evolved to a place where you are tracking everyone. You are collecting data on just about everybody,\u201d Castor told Zuckerberg. \u201cYou\u2019re tracking everyone\u2019s online activities\u2014their searches, you can track what people buy, correct? You\u2019re collecting that data\u2014what people purchase online. You\u2019re collecting medical data, correct, on people that are on the Internet\u2014whether they\u2019re Facebook users or not.\u201d However, Zuckerberg disagreed with that characterization.

Facebook has taken steps to protect consumers, but needs to do more<\/b>
While Zuckerberg said Facebook made \u201cbig changes\u201d in 2014 to dramatically restrict the amount of data that developers can access and to proactively review the apps on its platform, he told lawmakers that the company is doing more. \u201cWe\u2019re removing developers\u2019 access to your data if you haven\u2019t used their app in three months,\u201d Zuckerberg said. \u201cWe\u2019re reducing the data you give an app when you approve it to only your name, profile photo, and email address\u2014that\u2019s a lot less than apps can get on any other major app platform. We\u2019re requiring developers to not only get approval but also to sign a contract that imposes strict requirements in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data.\u201d

Facebook looking to artificial intelligence to help with content review<\/b>
Zuckerberg acknowledged in his testimony that Facebook should have spotted Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections much earlier than it did. \u201cWe\u2019re working hard to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d he said, including leveraging artificial intelligence to prevent abuse. \u201cSince 2016, we have improved our techniques to prevent nation states from interfering in foreign elections, and we\u2019ve built more advanced AI tools to remove fake accounts more generally,\u201d added Zuckerberg. \u201cThere have been a number of important elections since then where these new tools have been successfully deployed.\u201d

Security is a technology area in which Facebook is making major investments <\/b>
\u201cWe now have about 15,000 people working on security and content review. We\u2019ll have more than 20,000 by the end of this year,\u201d Zuckerberg testified. \u201cI\u2019ve directed our teams to invest so much in security\u2014on top of the other investments we\u2019re making\u2014that it will significantly impact our profitability going forward. But I want to be clear about what our priority is: protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits.\u201d","order":0,"get_parent":{},"attributes":[],"attributesType":{"content":{"type":"string","source":"raw"},"lock":{"type":"object"}},"dynamicContent":""}]

6 health data privacy takeaways from Zuckerberg’s testimony

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