Zuckerberg On The Defense

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended his company's business practices in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Friday that comes after a slew of controversies over the social media giant's handling of user data.

According to The Hill, Zuckerberg said that his company works to make sure users have honest and easy-to-understand guidelines on how their data is used by Facebook and advertisers on the platform.

"We give people complete control over whether we use this information for ads, but we don't let them control how we use it for security or operating our services," the Facebook CEO wrote in the Journal op-ed. "And when we asked people for permission to use this information to improve their ads as part of our compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, the vast majority agreed because they prefer more relevant ads.

"Ultimately, I believe the most important principles around data are transparency, choice and control. We need to be clear about the ways we're using information, and people need to have clear choices about how their information is used," he added.

Zuckerberg went on to deny accusations that Facebook sells user data to advertisers, which he argued would "reduce the unique value of our service to advertisers."

"We don't sell people's data, even though it's often reported that we do. In fact, selling people's information to advertisers would be counter to our business interests," Zuckerberg wrote.