Facebook has seen better times for sure. The reviews on Facebook’s reaction to the
recent Cambridge Analytica disaster have been far from glowing. Can Facebook address consumer concerns with
privacy, particularly when a good part of its business model is based on the
commodification of user data? If its
profit center is primarily selling data, what can Facebook do to better protect
privacy. Should it obtain “more”
consent? How much “consent” is enough? One potential fix (and practically I don’t
know how this would be implemented) would be to change Facebook to a B Corp—a public
benefit corporation. Facebook could
become a corporation that is not primarily driven by maximizing shareholder
value, but instead also by the public interest.
Here is a description of the Delaware B Corp:
A public benefit corporation (PBC) will be formed in the same
manner as any other corporation formed under the Delaware General Corporation
Law. However, in order to be a PBC, the corporation’s certificate of
incorporation must identify one or more specific public benefits and must have
a name that clearly identifies its status as a PBC. Public benefits for which
corporations may be formed include, but are not limited to, those of an
artistic, charitable, cultural, economic, educational, environmental, literary,
medical, religious, scientific or technical nature.
At least once every two years, a public benefit corporation
must send its stockholders a statement with respect to its promotion of the
public benefit(s) identified in its charter, as well as its promotion of the
best interests of those materially affected by the corporation’s conduct.
This is not a “perfect” fix, but maybe it is a move in the
right direction.
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