[harryf]

The "why now?" question has a simple answer: "because Trump".

The public basically believes that Facebook enabled to Putin to get Trump elected. So suddenly the issue of all that data we've been sharing has gone from "I've got nothing to hide" to "This got that guy I hate elected"

Whether or not that's accurate or informed is beside the point.

[pjc50]

True - both that that's why we're talking about it now, and that it seems extremely likely this is a contributory factor to Trump getting elected. Perhaps not directly or traceably, but through the huge spread of conspiracy garbage, inflammatory clickbait, and fake news.

In the UK, the trigger issue is Brexit instead. The fake news long predates the internet - Boris Johnson built a career printing false articles about the EU in the Spectator, and the EU has long had a debunking site to deal with the UK press in general: https://blogs.ec.europa.eu/ECintheUK/euromyths-a-z-index/

[harryf]

> The fake news long predates the internet - Boris Johnson built a career printing false articles about the EU in the Spectator

Indeed although that's always been seen as OK because those are "our guys" manipulating public opinion vs. Putin being "the enemy" and getting Trump elected i.e. the tool (Facebook) is not under "our" / establishment control so Something Must be Done(TM)

[pjc50]

Been seen as OK by whom?

[harryf]

"Seen as OK" by UK press / establishment politicians in the sense that no real outrage was generated or hearings held or laws changed. Unlike what seems to be about to happen with Facebook...