Google CEO Larry Page: Facebook is holding user data ‘hostage’ [Video]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtPb1GEzF0]
Google’s CEO Larry Page went on the “Charlie Rose” show via PBS last night to discuss an array of topics, but he also made sure to scold newly-public Facebook in regards to users’ data.
According to Venture Beat, Page well-wished Facebook on its IPO, and then he jumped to, “I think it’s been unfortunate that Facebook has been pretty closed with their data.” He also mentioned Google’s openness, and he subsequently criticized Facebook for lacking the ability to import Google contacts when joining the world-popular social network:
“From a user’s perspective, you say, ‘I’m joining Facebook. I want my contacts.’ In Google, we said, ‘Fine. You can get them from Google.’ And the issue we had is that then Facebook said, ‘No, Google, you can’t do the reverse.’ And so we just said, ‘Well, users don’t understand what they’re doing. They’re putting data in, and they don’t understand they can’t take it out.’ So we said, ‘Well, we’ll only participate with people who have reciprocity. And we’re still waiting.'”
Long story short: Google wants to share its users’ contacts with Facebook—if Facebook does the same with Google.
“You don’t want to be holding your users hostage […] We think it’s important that you as users of Google can take your data, and take it out if you need to, or take it somewhere else,” Page added.
The chief executive also touched upon his excitement with Chrome becoming the No. 1 most popular Web browser, the search engine’s confidence in legal issues concerning Oracle and its Java patents in Android, the persistent European Union antitrust investigation, and his hopes for Google Glasses.
