We asked, you told us: Facebook's privacy response was the biggest blunder of 2018

2018 has been a rollercoaster for a lot of tech companies this year. In addition to the usual screwups that are destined to happen from time to time, we saw failed product launches, problems with the government, and so much more.

While most of the prominent blunders of the last year happened in front of all of us, some affected our daily lives.

So with this in mind, we asked you what you thought the biggest mistake of 2018 was. Here are the results based on almost 2,000 votes.

What was the biggest blunder of 2018?

Results

Unsurprisingly, Facebook’s less than favorable response to its user’s privacy concerns was seen as the biggest blunder of 2018. After the Cambridge Audio Analytica scandal came to light, everyone asked how Mark Zuckerberg allowed it to happen.

If there was one benefit to this issue, it is the fact that people and nations alike are demanding Facebook and others protect user’s data. The results might currently consist of a mixed bag of confusion, at least solutions are getting worked on.

Following that, the two biggest blunders in the voter’s eyes were the lackluster launch of the Red Hydrogen One and HUAWEI’s repeated issues pertaining to the U.S. government. Seeing the Hydrogen One fail was expected. After repeated delays and a $1,295 price tag for year-old hardware, it’s no surprise that hardly anyone wanted to buy the handset.

And while HUAWEI’s problems might not initially hurt its business, its future expansion and development could be in trouble. As the U.S. pushes other countries to avoid the Chinese company, HUAWEI won’t be able to sell and deploy its 5G equipment.

Noteworthy comments

Here are some of the best comments from last week’s poll explaining why they voted the way that they did:

• Facebook has really started to go downhill, from the 2016 election to data privacy to censorship of users political speech. I am glad I deleted my account at the beginning of 2017.. ..what a disaster.
• I don’t think 2018 was a bad year for HUAWEI. They came up with the P20 Pro and the Mate 20 Pro and those are very good phones. The problem with the HUAWEI scare has more to do with the Chinese government than HUAWEI the company (or technology) itself.
• Pixel 3’s notch-gate
• Pretty much any game released by EA this year. This goes for mobile titles and PC/console.
• My vote: the notch and the many ways in which OEMs have tried to “solve” the notch issue. They shot themselves in the foot over something we never needed.Bezels on the LG V30 and Samsung S9s showed how small they’ve gotten and how much thinner they could get without cutting into the phone’s display. You keep those bezels intact and it can better house all the sensors you want/need and also front-facing speakers.

That’s it for this week, everyone. As always, thanks for voting, thanks for the comments, and don’t forget to let us know what you thought of the results below.