The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee recently sent a joint letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg asking for more specifics on the company’s decision to collect the last four digits of Social Security numbers belonging to people who decide to purchase political advertising on Facebook. The letter, which was signed by every member of the committee, does not question the intent behind Facebook’s new policy, which the company has claimed would improve the integrity of social media platforms, but rather the danger of people giving out information that identity thieves seek.
“Given bipartisan concerns about the problem of identity theft, including the risk associated with Social Security numbers being stolen, it is important for us to understand how these important numbers will be used and how they will be protected,” the letter said.
The complete letter, which can be found here, asks Zuckerberg to respond to a series of questions.
- What is the intended purpose of Facebook’s collection of Social Security number information?
- Since Social Security numbers are associated with individuals and not organizations, whose Social Security number information do you collect when an organization seeks to place a political advertisement?
- How does Facebook use this information to verify an advertiser’s identity? Does Facebook verify the authenticity of the collected Social Security number information?
- Is this information transmitted to any third parties? If so, why?
- How does Facebook ensure the security of the Social Security number information it receives?
- How does Facebook ensure the Social Security number information is properly disposed of following use?
The Committee has asked Zuckerberg to respond to these questions by no later than July 11. It seems the entire Committee is taking the skeptical approach that collection someone’s last four of their Social Security number will improve the integrity of political ads on Facebook.
