Expert Jennifer Grygiel Dissects Zuckerberg’s Testimony

Amidst the testimony of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg this week, Newhouse assistant professor and social media expert Jennifer Grygiel has been surprised by a few of his answers. This was especially true in a response Zuckerberg gave to a question about Palantir – a technology company co-founded by Peter Thiel, a member of Facebook’s Board of Directors – and its potential involvement in taking personal data.

“It’s another social media data analytics company that does a lot of listening,” she said. “They work with police departments around the world, Thiel had founded the company and he is also on the board of Facebook. It was widely reported that somebody from Palantir had gone and helped Cambridge Analytica in the design of their app so it was surprising that he punted that one.”