Drift Signal

Drift Signal

Share this post

Drift Signal
Drift Signal
Enough With the Facebook Bashing
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Enough With the Facebook Bashing

European Straits #62

Nicolas Colin's avatar
Nicolas Colin
Mar 28, 2018
∙ Paid

Share this post

Drift Signal
Drift Signal
Enough With the Facebook Bashing
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Dear all,

Last week was dominated by Facebook’s latest series of problems. A worldwide scandal has erupted following the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a firm that worked for the Trump campaign in 2016, has illegally diverted data about millions of Facebook users’ social graphs.

I happen to know the technological context quite well. Back in 2010-2012, I was the CEO of a Paris-based tech startup whose core business was to exploit information about people’s social graphs. Following the example of the 2008 Obama presidential campaign, my cofounders and I were seeking to orchestrate value-creating relationships between individuals who didn’t know each other but had a lot in common—whether it was to help elect a candidate, find a new job or purchase a new product.

Now, I have to say, we didn’t collect too much data. Like many startups, mine never really took off. But I remember that third-party developers like us were authorized to collect information about people’s social graph through…

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Nicolas Colin
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More