Chinese business magnate Jack Ma said “it is the [sic] time to fix” Facebook in response to a question about the social media giant asked during the latest iteration of Hainan, China-based Boao Forum. Marck Zuckerberg should “really take it [the problems] seriously,” Alibaba co-founder and Executive Chairman said, having added that he believes Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer will eventually manage to solve all of the major issues that are presently troubling the digital juggernaut. Mr. Ma, whose net worth is estimated to have surpassed $42 billion as of last month, acknowledged Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal and related controversies stemming from the mid-March ordeal during his recent conference appearance, yet didn’t do so in a way that was particularly critical of the Menlo Park, California-based company, having asserted that Facebook is still “valuable” while indicating it deserves some slack.
Many issues that the social media firm is presently struggling to address came to be due to Facebook’s unprecedented growth and the global scale it ended up reaching contrary to everyone’s expectations, including its own, Mr. Ma said. It hence couldn’t have been realistically expected to foresee all potential misuses of its platform conducted by third parties, according to China’s richest man. “We should not kill the company because of these problems,” the multi-billionaire concluded, having suggested Facebook must simply be given some time to start addressing the latest controversies.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is still unraveling, with the story being set to continue over the next 48 hours after Mr. Zuckerberg testifies in front of U.S. lawmakers. In the meantime, the company is attempting to crack down on improper third-party data harvesting conducted using its tools in recent times, having so far confirmed banning several companies using a similar M.O. to that of Cambridge Analytica, though not all misuses have been identified by Facebook itself. Many industry watchers are now predicting the company is at considerable risk of being hit with heavy-handed regulations in the near future after all investigations into its newly emerged issues have been concluded.