Zuckerberg keeps insisting Facebook doesn’t sell our data. What it does is even worse

When Zuckerberg was questioned about the company’s handling of user data and how it essentially handed it off to third parties, he demurred. “For some reason, we haven’t been able to kick this notion, for years, that people think that we sell data to advertisers,” said Zuckerberg. “We don’t.”

While it’s true that marketers can’t hand to Zuckerberg a fist full of cash in exchange for a USB drive of user preferences, what marketers can do is use Facebook’s endless stock of data to deploy some of the best and most targeted advertising the world has ever seen. Which is to say, Facebook doesn’t sell the user information individually, but it provides a platform that makes the data in aggregate even more powerful. This lets the social network say it doesn’t sell this user information while letting advertisers run campaigns based on preference. Zuckerberg continually dodges taking responsibility for its ad platform, because its entire business model is predicated on having users hand over their information for free, only to have it positioned against businesses.