In an interview with NBC’s Today show, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that users who wished to entirely stop the social media platform from making money from their personal data would have to pay for the privilege, if the option were to be made available.
There’s no indication that Facebook actually plans to introduce such an option, but Sandberg’s admission makes explicit that Facebook’s revenue depends almost entirely on monitoring its users’ taste and behavior. Taking that option away would require replacing ad sales with subscription revenue.
Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have faced intense media and public scrutiny following revelations Cambridge Analytica accessed at least 87 million users' data.
Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify before congressional committees in April.
By: Swati Kaushal
