this is business briefing, i'm sally bundock. "if we can't protect your data, we don't deserve to serve you". mark zuckerberg promises more safeguards for facebook users, but how much damage has already been done? plus: trading blows with beijing. the white house vows to hit back at china over intellectual property theft. billions of dollars of tariffs could be slapped on chinese goods later today. and on the markets, the us raises interest rates. and there is more to come. we start in california, where facebook founder and boss mark zuckerberg has been addressing the growing controversy over the way the company handles users‘ data.

it comes after allegations that a uk based consultancy, cambridge analytica, improperly gathered data on 50 million users to build profiles of us voters that was later used to influence the 2016 election in favour of donald trump. in a post on his facebook page, mr zuckerberg admitted the company had made mistakes, and vowed to introduce more safeguards. he said, "we have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't, then we don't deserve to serve you". investors worry that privacy concerns might start to scare users away from facebook, or lead to a crackdown by governments. mr zuckerberg's statement boosted its shares slightly, but they are still down almost 9% since the start of the week, wiping more than m5 billion off facebook‘s market value. the way facebook gathers data about us is central to its business model.

companies love the way it lets them target advertising at us. the vast majority of what they spend on online marketing goes to facebook and google, so there is a huge amount at stake. here is our north america technology correspondent dave lee. the news broke here late on friday night, but it wasn't until day six mark zuckerberg finally found the words to comment on the crisis which has been engulfing this company. on a personal post on his own facebook page, mark zuckerberg outlined the timeline of events as he saw it, and he said the company will make some big changes to how apps are handled on their network in the future, with a view to protecting privacy and making it easier for users to know when their data was being used. what he didn't do, however, was offer an

apology to those users, or his investors, or indeed his own staff. mark zuckerberg also didn't offer an explanation as to why the company didn't inform the public that this had happened when it first found out about this, several years ago. i think it is clear to see that while facebook is admitting a few errors on the way, it is certainly not taking the blame for what has happened. dean armstrong qc is a barrister specialising in data law. i would imagine you are finding this whole story extremely fascinating. give us your insight into what is going on here. well, i think the principles behind it are who actually controls personal data. there is a big debate going on which is being resolved in favour in europe of the individual having control over their own data. and thatis control over their own data. and that is a massive boost and step

forward for those people who see opportunities like this in situations like this, whereby their data has been misused. this is a classic example of you give someone permission to use your data for a particular purpose. in this situation not only their own data about other people's data has been used for a completely different purpose on the face of it.” used for a completely different purpose on the face of it. i was going to say next month, it is in may, the gdpr comes in, new data protection regulation in europe which many companies are trying to get their heads around and prepare for. how will this impact the scenario playing out right now with facebook, cambridge analytica and others? it is very topical because cambridge analytica are a uk—based company, and in those circumstances they would be obliged to be compliant with gdpr. gdpr at its root and in its function is it puts people's personal data at the top of the agenda, in the sense that you must control, you have the ability

to control, your own data. so anybody else who uses your data is effectively a custodian of your data, they are people looking after it. it is a prized possession and so what we have is this rather interesting dichotomy at the moment in the world, because what we have in the world, because what we have in the facebook situation is we have a scenario whereby someone's data is being misused, it is being out of their control. gdpr is saying that is wrong and that is punishable. but how do you pursue this scenario? if you are a facebook user or a user of some otherform of you are a facebook user or a user of some other form of social media or you feel another organisation has misused your data, is it realistic to think you will get some kind of justice through this system? especially where in this situation facebook is saying they haven't done anything wrong but they are going to look back and do an internal investigation into what happened. cambridge analytica as a company is also denying any wrongdoing, as well. so how do you figure out who is at fault and somehow see some

sort of reprisal here? what we have at the moment is a very unclear evidentiary situation. so what has to happen over the next days, weeks and months is to clarify fault, who was responsible, did people do as much as they could do in terms of diligence, but under the gdpr, for example, if it happened in the european space or happened to a european space or happened to a european citizen, they would have a right to redress under the regulation itself. what do you think will happen to facebook, given the situation we are looking at now?|j think situation we are looking at now?” think what is interesting is, there may have been, i am not saying on the part of facebook necessarily, but a reluctance to face up to the fa ct but a reluctance to face up to the fact that people's data is their own data. and you as a big entity such as facebook look after people's possessions, and you must take care of it and make sure it is used properly. and i hope and in these

circumstances believed it will lead toa circumstances believed it will lead to a greater sense of responsibility over user data and how it is dealt with. thank you for coming in. and this is a story we will continue to cover and something we will return to, of course, gdpr a huge issue for companies all the world. let's move to washington now, where the white house is expected to announce billions of dollars of tariffs on imported chinese goods later today. president trump is due to sign the memorandum on trade with china at 16:30 gmt. it would be the latest move by the trump administration to penalise foreign imports, after it targeted steel and aluminium with hefty tariffs earlier this month, raising fears of a global trade war. the bbc‘s kim gittleson in washington explains. here is something you will be hearing a lot about in the coming days, section 301. it is part of the 1974 us trade law that the trump administration will invoke when it levies tariffs against imported

chinese goods, possibly as soon as thursday. the law states that the country is deemed to a threat to us intellectual property, the us can retaliate. most people assume the trump administration will impose ta riffs trump administration will impose tariffs on imports of chinese electronics, toys and apparel. these are the biggest industries that led to the $375 billion trade deficit that the us had with china in 2017. already, us companies in those industries have spoken out against the proposed measures, saying there are better ways to deal with the prospect of chinese intellectual property theft. this could compensate matters for president trump as he tries to fix what he has called an unfair trade relationship with china. now let's brief you some other business stories: the us federal reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25%, to between 1.5% and 1.75%, citing a strengthened economic outlook. it was the first meeting in charge for new fed chairjerome powell, who took over from janet yellen last month.

he also signalled at least two more rate hikes this year, but sounded a warning about rising trade tensions. tesla shareholders have approved a $2.6 billion pay dealfor boss elon musk, believed to be the biggest share—based deal in us corporate history. mr musk will only get the shares if the electric carmaker hits certain targets, including sales and share price. the vote was seen as a key test of support for his leadership at the loss—making firm, which is struggling to increase production. and now, what is trending in the business news this morning? from cnbc, eu reveals a digital tax plan that could penalize google, amazon and facebook. it says, according to data from the european commission, digital companies pay tax of about 9.5%, compared to 23.2% for traditional businesses.

from wired, the people have lost their trust in mark zuckerberg. it says the days he took to respond to the data breach scandal have done irreversible damage to the company. and from quartz, uber‘s need for self—driving cars before running out of money may endanger the entire industry. and don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. that's it for business briefing this hour. rural communities are being failed by the government, according to a new house of lords report. it says cuts to departments are having a profound,

negative impact on england's biodiversity, and the social and economic welfare of rural areas. claire marshall has this report. the overwhelming number of people who live in the countryside are being failed by government, that is according to today's report. the house of lords select committee says there should be radical change in how rural communities in the countryside are looked after. it suggests stripping the regulator of its power to regulate on rural affairs. some of the worst spots for deprivation and intergenerational poverty exist in rural england, as bad as, if not worse, than in our inner cities. and we feel that they have been neglected by government, and we feel that actually defra is not doing a good job, and they ought to be changes made. the lords also say the department has focused too much on farming and agriculture, and

something that has suffered as a result is the footpath network. now, over half arrive at impossible or need improving. the footpath network, the trail of themselves, they benefit so many people. they benefit people's health, their well—being, local economies. and it is too important to not address. many countryside groups do see an opportunity in brexit. when the uk leads the european union, the whole way that farmers are subsidised is going to change, and this report says that in the future landowners could be given public only to keep footpath like this open, and maybe even create new one. defra says that the needs of our rural communities set at the heart of everything it does. —— sit at the heart. coming up at 6:00am on breakfast: naga munchetty and charlie stayt will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines: mark zuckerberg has admitted facebook made mistakes that allowed the firm cambridge analytica to exploit the data of millions of users on behalf of political clients. he said there had been a breach of trust between facebook and users, and promised to make changes. police in texas say the man suspected of a string of bomb attacks in the state left a 25—minute recording about the six devices he had constructed. mark anthony conditt blew himself up while being chased by police officers. brexit is set to dominate today's eu summit in brussels, with leaders publishing their vision of the future relationship between the uk and europe. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world.

we begin with the times and its coverage of facebook. it says advertisers are threatening to abandon facebook following mark zuckerberg admitting that the company had made mistakes over the cambridge analytica scandal. and le figaro reveals that nicholas sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation over illicit financing of his successful 2007 election campaign. the express leads with remarks made by boris johnson. the british foreign secretary has drawn parallels between vladimir putin and adolf hitler. on the front of the ft, a photo of nigel farage throwing dead fish into the thames in protest of the uk remaining in the common fisheries policy during the brexit transition period. and the new york times leads with nafta negotiations turning contentious as washington wants to limitjunk food warning labels in mexico and canada.

the gulf news carries a striking photo on world water day of a parched earth, saying the world needs greener water policies to avert catastrophe. that is a warning coming from the united nations. so, let's begin. with me is liam booth—smith, chief executive at localis,