Does Facebook Give Mass Amounts of Information to the Government? Zuckerberg Says No

Through a secret court order, the National Security Agency is now collecting the telephone records of millions of US Verizon customers. The Guardian has published the full court order for the data while millions of Americans are crying foul. On the heels of this data collection, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took to his personal Facebook account to clear the air about any potential data sharing with his company.

Zuckerberg posted,

I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM:

Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers. We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively. We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday.

When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure.

We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent about all programs aimed at keeping the public safe. It's the only way to protect everyone's civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term.

 

For the most part, your data and usage information is safe with Facebook. According to Zuckerberg, they plan to fiercely fight any mass court order demanding data. Swell guy, he is.