Mark Zuckerberg made an onstage joke about Facebook's privacy record and it was awkward for everyone in the room
- Mark Zuckerberg delivered a keynote speech at Facebook's F8 Developer Conference on Tuesday.
- In his speech, he joked about Facebook's recent privacy scandals. According to a Business Insider reporter who was in the room, the joke fell a little flat.
- Zuckerberg also outlined the company's strategy to develop a new private social platform.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Mark Zuckerberg joked about Facebook's privacy scandals in a recent speech but the audience wasn't ready to laugh about it just yet.
CEO Zuckerberg delivered the keynote speech at Facebook's F8 Developer Conference on Tuesday. He made reference to the firm's year of privacy scandals as he outlined a strategy for its new private social platform which, he said, would provide users with a way to chat and socialize in small groups and make secure payments, amongst other things.
"I believe that the future is private," he said. "As the world gets bigger and more connected, we need that sense of intimacy more than ever."
Read more: Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook's future involves making billions from shopping, not just ads
With an amused look on his face, he went on to say:
"I get that a lot of people aren't sure that we are serious about this. I know that we don't exactly have the strongest reputation for privacy right now, to put it lightly."
According to a Business Insider reporter who was in the room, the joke largely fell flat with the audience.
Facebook has come under scrutiny in recent years over a series of privacy missteps.
The biggest disaster was the Cambridge Analytica debacle in 2018. That involved the Trump-linked political research firm siphoning millions of people's Facebook data and then using it to inform targeted political ads.
Another was when the company accidentally stored millions of user passwords in plain text, meaning a large number of employees potentially had access.
And Business Insider's Rob Price reported in April that Facebook also uploaded the email contact information of 1.5 million new users without their consent.
Facebook announced during its most recent earnings results that it said it expected to be fined up to $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for these violations.
Watch Mark Zuckerberg's full speech here.