Facebook is no stranger to privacy scandals, much to the frustration of many users. Now, investment firms have even begun side eyeing the social media giant.
Investment firm S&P Dow Jones Indices has decided to remove Facebook from its S&P 500 ESG Index, Business Insider reported.
Essentially, the index tracks how socially responsible companies are. It scores them based on environmental, social, and corporate governance rankings.
Reid Steadman, global head of ESG at S&P, explained Facebook’s removal in a blog post:
“The specific issues resulting in these scores had to do with various privacy concerns, including a lack of transparency as to why Facebook collects and shares certain user information. These events have created uncertainty about Facebook’s diligence regarding privacy protection, and the effectiveness of the company risk management processes and how the company enforces them. These issues caused the company to lag behind its peers in terms of the ESG performance.”
According to Business Insider, Facebook scored only 21 out of 100 at the time of its removal. Although the company’s environmental score came in at 82, its social and governance scores were pretty bad. Facebook came in at 22 and 6, respectively.
Since its infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has come under increased pressure to improve its privacy practices. However, the company has a lot of work to do.
In this year alone, Facebook has confirmed a few questionable privacy practices. Back in March, the company said it stored millions of users’ passwords in plain text. Then, the company admitted to collecting 187,000 users’ data with a now-banned research app.
S&P Dow Jones’ decision makes it clear that if Facebook wants to remain on good terms with investors, it needs to seriously examine its privacy practices.
