British data firm Cambridge Analytica may have accessed personal information of about 87 million users, according to Facebook Inc.This has come as a first official confirmation regarding possible data leak scope which was earlier predicted to be 50 million.
Mike Schroepfer, Chief Technology Officer at Facebook in his blog post published on Wednesday, stated
Given the scale and sophistication of the situation we have observed, we predict most users of Facebook could have had their personal data scrapped in this manner.
The update has come right a week before “Mark” is expected to bespeak before Congress on whether Cambridge Analytica “inappropriately” used data when users downloaded personality apps earlier in 2014.
Post the data breach controversy, Facebook has been religiously working on its data acquisition features and have been rolling updates on how it collects and shares data across its platform.
As per new updates, the platform has come out with easier ways to let users know which apps are using their data. It has made login approvals mandatory for users before apps can use their information and has also chalked out the removal of apps that demanded third-party installation for use.
Facebook chief privacy officer and Vp, Erin Egan also mentioned that Facebook is working actively on making its privacy policies more “transparent”. It would do away with asking for new information from the user or changing anything that user had earlier agreed with. In her new blog post, She also mentioned that Facebook would be asking for user’s feedback on its new data policy terms soon.
In a meeting scheduled 10 April, Mark is expected to discuss Facebook’s role in maintaining user’s privacy before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committee. Australian government to has reported about starting an official investigation to testify if Facebook breached their privacy laws.
The update has come right a week before “Mark” is expected to bespeak before Congress on whether Cambridge Analytica “inappropriately” used data when users downloaded personality apps earlier in 2014.
In his media interaction on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said,
We are not going to be able to go out and find every single bad use of data, but what we can do is make it a lot harder for folks to that going forward.I think we will surely be able to disclose a large amount of bad activity that exists.
He also defended the company’s business model that gathers and uses data allowing users to use its platform for advertising and targeting tools that could cater to specific audiences.
Nevertheless, he believes he should continue holding the reins of Facebook.” I think life is about learning from one’s mistakes and figuring out how to move forward despite the challenges.”, he said