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Readers React: Facebook’s lack of transparency made its data crisis much worse

A sign at the entrance to Facebook's corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
A sign at the entrance to Facebook’s corporate headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.
(Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images)
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To the editor: How a company’s top executives respond to a crisis often reveals its most deeply held corporate values. Are they committed to protecting their customers or primarily interested in the bottom line? Facebook’s dissembling response to Cambridge Analytica’s use of its data does not inspire trust. (“Questions mount for Facebook — and Mark Zuckerberg isn’t answering them,” March 20)

In 1982, when seven people died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide, Johnson & Johnson took action. The company recalled the product, launched a nationwide advertising campaign to inform consumers, and its chairman appeared on high-profile media outlets to address public concerns.

Johnson & Johnson — and the Tylenol brand — maintained their reputations (and shareholder value), and the company’s efforts are widely considered a case study in successful crisis communications.

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Facebook might take a page from the history books and respond to this crisis with integrity and transparency.

Susan Dunn, Valley Glen

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To the editor: I’m a fan of Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and her “Lean In” work, but as the company’s chief operating officer, she is now immersed in a data system that is fraught with peril.

The article makes clear that becoming successful at “leaning in” may mean you advance into a quagmire of woven negotiations that may be hard to navigate. Some become moral dilemmas that require great strength of the executive called to do the right thing (or mop up) at a moment when someone else in the company hasn’t. That’s when the executive has to step up, speak up and face the media.

I say to women who use “Lean In” as their bible, let’s not romanticize advancement.

Lois Phillips, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: We are all for sale to the highest bidder, and our society is going down if we don’t change something quick.

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It’s come to this: We are targeted, profiled and manipulated by billionaires investing in power and control, with the rest of us being robbed of our autonomy. We are in a crisis of principles and purpose, with victory being the takeover of power and money at all costs, with every other essential thing of importance overlooked.

We need a national consensus to teach the value of human dignity and quality of life over enrichment.

Stephanie Kirschner, Agoura Hills

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