Mark Zuckerberg's long apology tour: A brief history

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. MOCKING FACEBOOK'S EARLY USERS In one of the earliest stories of Facebook's founding, a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg mocked the roughly 4,000 students who'd joined his nascent service, bragging to friends in text messages about the vast amount of personal information he'd collected thanks to the misplaced trust of his users. BURYING A FEDERAL SETTLEMENT On Nov. 9, 2011, the Federal Trade Commission subjected Facebook to stricter privacy oversight after finding that the company arbitrarily made private information public without notice, failed to limit data sharing with apps even when users activated restrictive settings, shared personal information with advertisers after saying it wouldn't, and more. The pair beamed themselves into prerecorded 3-D footage of the damage and recovery efforts; Zuckerberg described the you-are-there feeling as “one of the really magical things about virtual reality," especially given, as he said, that “it's a really tough place to get to now.” He later expounded on Facebook's own recovery efforts, but the dissonant video drew so many complaints that Zuckerberg posted a brief apology in the video chat, explaining that his attempt to showcase Facebook's efforts at disaster recovery weren't very clear and apologizing to anyone who was offended. Zuckerberg first apologized for the scandal on CNN, saying that Facebook has a “responsibility” to protect its users’ data, and that if it fails, “we don’t deserve to have the opportunity to serve people.” He gave a version of that apology later that year in testimony before Congress, saying that “we didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility” while also noting the company's failures in cracking down on fake news and hate speech, poor data privacy controls and not adequately addressing foreign interference in the 2016 elections on Facebook.