The Scotsman's Market Conference: Facebook's trade-off between convenience and trust

Facebook's 2014 breach was a topic of conversation at The Scotsman's Markets 2018 conference, '˜Home or Overseas: Where to from here?'

Facebook’s data breach was on the minds of the panel and delegates of the annual Scotsman Markets Conference this week.

Whistleblower Chris Wylie, a former research director at the UK-based company Cambridge Analytica, exposed a so-called data grab on more than 50 million profiles in 2014.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has since been summoned before the UK Government to give evidence into the parliamentary inquiry into fake news following the breach.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty ImagesFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty Images
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty Images
Read More
'˜We made mistakes': Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg breaks his silence

Casper Rock, speaking as Chief Investment Officer at Cazenove Capital, opened the summit with a Global market overview for 2018.

During the Q&A, he explained the implications of Facebook’s 50M-profile breach delegates, insisting 2018 will see “much more regulation of technology”.

“There is so much institutionalised trust in these brands,” he said, “that there is a trade off between the two - technology brings efficiency of service, but it doesn’t bring trust.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty ImagesFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty Images
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Josh Edelson/Getty Images

Andrew Graham, Head of Asia at Martin Currie, explained that institutionalised trust in big tech companies is common practice among consumers in Asia too.

He said: “The requirement for data security is becoming paramount and certainly regulators across the region are aware of the issues.

“The way most Asians who are interacting with businesses online deal with it today is by dealing with Trusted brands.”

Asian consumers trusting web platforms with sensitive information put their trust in the company and the authorities, explains Graham.

“There’s a basic assumption at the moment, on behalf of individuals, that these leading companies or their Government are taking care of these issues properly.”

Read the four-page pullout on our ‘Markets 2018: Home or Overseas, where to from here?’ conference in Thursday’s Scotsman Newspaper.