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Vox Sentences: Once more, into the (data) breach

Apr 6, 2018, 12:00 AM UTC

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Facebook’s data problems seem to be worse than initially thought; Brazil’s former president is likely headed to jail ... while he campaigns for the presidency again.

Facebook digs itself deeper

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg heads to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress twice next week, and lawmakers have a lot of questions for him. [Vox / Jen Kirby and Emily Stewart]
This comes after a few weeks of not-great news for Facebook, starting with the Cambridge Analytica scandal a few weeks ago, when it was revealed that the data of 50 million users was secretly used by the firm as part of its work for Trump’s 2016 campaign. [NYT / Matthew Rosenberg, Nicholas Confessore, and Carole Cadwalladr]
Since then, the number of users whose data was harvested by Cambridge Analytica has been revised to 87 million. [BBC]
But the news doesn’t stop there. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Facebook admitted “malicious actors” used certain search tools to get at the information of most of its 2 billion users all over the world. Basically, the company admitted that if you were a user, there was a good chance your information had been accessed at some point. (Those search tools have since been disabled.) [Washington Post / Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, and Elizabeth Dwoskin]
The narrative here could be that things are getting bad for Facebook, but the reality is that’s because things haven’t been great for Facebook users, whose data has apparently been vulnerable for quite a while. Zuckerberg has been owning up to the responsibility, a notable change in tone from right after the 2016 election, when people were asking questions about Russia using social media to influence the outcome. [Recode / Kurt Wagner]
Zuckerberg is also trying to address how the company is combating fake news that was disseminated by Russians and spread across the social network, telling Vox’s Ezra Klein in a recent interview that it’s something the company is taking seriously. [Vox / Ezra Klein]
He’ll have to talk about all this and more on Capitol Hill — where lawmakers of both parties will likely have a lot of questions. [Washington Post / Tony Romm and Craig Timberg]

Brazil’s former president is likely headed to jail ... in the midst of a campaign

It’s been a very bad day for former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who learned today that he is very likely headed to jail. [Reuters]
After the former leader — commonly known as “Lula” — was convicted on corruption and money laundering charges last July, he appealed the decision twice, pushing the decision all the way up to the country’s supreme court. But early Thursday, Brazil’s top court ruled that Lula could be jailed while he appeals the conviction. [NYT / Ernesto Londoño and Shasta Darlington]
To make matters more complicated, Lula, who was formerly a union leader, is a candidate in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election this fall. And he’s been leading opinion polls despite his 12-year sentence. [Bloomberg Politics / Raymond Colitt]
Lula’s Workers’ Party, which held Brazil’s presidency from 2003 to 2016, won’t be deterred by today’s decision. Within minutes of putting out the ruling, the party tweeted in support of the candidate and urged people to vote for him. [AP via NBC]

Miscellaneous

President Trump might not have gotten his border wall, but he did just sign a proclamation to send National Guard troops to patrol the Mexican border. [NPR / Greg Myre]
The terror group ISIS ruled two ways — through fear but also through an efficient bureaucracy that functioned like a de facto government, according to troves of documents obtained by the New York Times. [NYT / Rukmini Callimachi]
If you’ve ever fought with a roommate over doing the dishes, you’re not alone. Research shows that dishwashing causes more tension than any other household task. [Atlantic / Caroline Kitchener]
Rapper Cardi B is a master at her personal brand, and it’s paying off — literally. [NPR / Sidney Madden]

Verbatim

“There’s no way in the year of our Lord 2018 that I am riding one of those. ... People are zooming past pedestrians without a single fuck to give. Mind you, there’s also people on bikes on the sidewalk, so it’s wheelmageddon.” [A San Franciscan complains about the overabundance of electric scooters in her neighborhood / Vanity Fair]