Ask HN: Did Facebook/CA receive outsized response in comparison to Experian - mankash666
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cimmanom
The story for Equifax was the personal data breach, which has implications for
individuals' financial outlook.

The story for Facebook is the interference with elections and the political
process, which has implications for everything from taxing sodas to the
potential for nuclear war.

The reactions are different because the events are not really directly
comparable.

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mankash666
I feel like the Facebook/CA affair has had more attention from the media than
the Experian beach. Additionally, I don't believe Experian received as many
legal and Congressional probes as Facebook is receiving. Why is this? Is
Experian great at lobbying Congress?

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Finnucane
Yes, they are. Like most firms in the financial industry, they've developed
deeply entrenched lobbying connections, as well as being generous with
campaign donations. For instance, Mick Mulvaney, now head of the CFPB and the
guy who gets to decide if there's going to be an investigation, has been the
recipient of their generosity.

Whereas the Facebook story has been driven in part by the fact that Cambridge
Analytica is using the data for the purpose of manipulating political
campaigns (possibly illegally for US politicians, since they're a foreign
interest).

Also, note that for all the noise, Facebook has yet to suffer any significant
legislative consequence.

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ams6110
Do you mean Equifax?

For me the difference is that I feel like Equifax was just negligent
carelessness, while the Facebook situation was more intentional on their part.

