If someone has to be fired for data abuse, it should be me: Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday took the blame for Cambridge Analytica data scandal and asserted that if anyone has to be fired for the debacle, it should be him.

During an interview with Kara Swisher of Recode, Zuckerberg shed light on a plethora of issues ranging from Russia’s interference in the US elections, data breaches to Facebook’s business model and much more.

When asked about who was to blame for the Cambridge Analytica scandal and subsequent data misuse, the 34-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist took responsibility, saying he “designed the platform, so if someone’s going to get fired for this, it should be me”. Although, he did not put pen to paper on his self-proposed resignation saying, “Not on this podcast right now.”

Zuckerberg came under public scrutiny after Cambridge Analytica, a British data mining firm, was accused of influencing the outcome of the 2016 US presidential elections by using data harvested by Facebook.

When asked about evidence that has surfaced regarding Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, Zuckerberg stated that Facebook has identified Russian hacking group APT28 trying traditional methods like “phishing people’s accounts” in the middle of 2015 and notified the FBI.

However, he admitted that Facebook was “slower” in identifying such groups which have set up “a network of fake accounts in order to spread divisive information.”