Facebook Could Use Some New Stories

A hack shows the company is exceptionally vulnerable to missteps as it tries to shift its focus and financial strategy

- Shira Ovide

As in any relationship, once a company loses the trust of its customers, there’s a long, lingering period of suspicion that it’s bound to repeat its egregious behavior. That greedy banks will take on too much risk. That Chipotle will make customers sick. And that Facebook will demonstrate it’s too creepy and irresponsible to be an unquestioned staple of daily life. Once trust is gone, it’s incredibly hard to win back, and every misstep is magnified.

Facebook Inc. experienced a bit of this extra harsh spotlight on Sept. 28 after it reported a security flaw that potentially let attackers hijack users’ accounts. It wasn’t a minor problem: The company said the flaw affected almost 50 million accounts, and it logged off 90 million users as a safety measure. It didn’t say whether accounts had been hijacked as a result of the flaw. The Irish Data Protection Commission is investigating the breach and could fine Facebook as much as $1.6 billion if it concludes the company violated the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.