Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook privacy breach in full-page newspaper ads

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It took a while, but Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence on the Cambridge Analytica scandal a few days ago and posted a response on his Facebook page saying, "We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you."

While the online response didn’t quite sound like an apology, the social media giant has moved offline to do just that.  

On Sunday, multiple newspapers across the UK and the US had full-page adverts signed by Zuckerberg to say "sorry" for the "breach of trust" and for "not doing more at the time".

"We’re now taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again," read the ads published in the UK’s The Observer, The Sunday Times, Mail on Sunday, Sunday Mirror, Sunday Express and Sunday Telegraph, as well as in The New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal in the US.

Social media users, however, aren’t buying it: many have pointed out that the apology would have been more convincing if the company hadn’t threatened to file a lawsuit against reporters who broke the story earlier this month.

The scandal has caused Facebook’s stock prices to plunge, leaving Zuckerberg to promise "to do better for you". The social media platform has already stopped third-party apps from mining "so much information" and has started "limiting the data apps get when [users] sign up".

Sharmishta Sarkar
Sharmishta Sarkar
Managing Editor (APAC)

While she's happiest with a camera in her hand, Sharmishta's main priority is being TechRadar's APAC Managing Editor, looking after the day-to-day functioning of the Australian, New Zealand and Singapore editions of the site, steering everything from news and reviews to ecommerce content like deals and coupon codes. While she loves reviewing cameras and lenses when she can, she's also an avid reader and has become quite the expert on ereaders and E Ink writing tablets, having appeared on Singaporean radio to talk about these underrated devices. Other than her duties at TechRadar, she's also the Managing Editor of the Australian edition of Digital Camera World, and writes for Tom's Guide and T3.