Amid the Facebook-Analytica data leak controversy, the US Federal Trade Commission has confirmed that Facebook is under investigation into its privacy practices, amidst allegations that its connection with British company Cambridge Analytica resulted in misuse of personal data of some 50 million users.
In a related development, attorney generals of as many as 37 states yesterday sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling for answers to reports that millions of Facebook users personal data were provided to third parties without their knowledge or informed consent.
In the letter, the attorney generals demand to know about the Facebook role in the manipulation of users data by Cambridge Analytica without those users knowledge as well as Facebook’s policies and procedures for protecting users private data.
The letter requests that Facebook produce information regarding their business practices and safeguards to protect users privacy.
2) Bollywood Actor deletes Facebook account:
Bollywood Actor Farhan Akhtar announced on Twitter that he has “permanently” deleted his account from social networking website Facebook.
“Good morning. This is to inform you all that I have permanently deleted my personal Facebook account. However, the verified FarhanAkhtarLive page is still active,” Farhan posted on Twitter.
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3) US Senate Committee invites FB, Google, Twitter CEOs:
A powerful Congressional committee has summoned the CEOs of top three social media platforms Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Sunder Pichai of Google, and Jack Dorsey of Twitter for a hearing on data privacy.
The hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee has been scheduled for April 10.
The hearing will broadly cover privacy standards for the collection, retention, and dissemination of consumer data for commercial use.
How did Facebook-Analytica leak happen?
As per the early reports indicate that user data of at least 50 million Facebook profiles may have been misused and misappropriated by third-party software developers, the letter said.
“According to these reports, Facebook previous policies allowed developers to access the personal data of “friends” of people who used applications on the platform, without the knowledge or express consent of those “friends”,” the attorney generals said.
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It has also been reported that while providing other developers access to personal Facebook user data, Facebook took as much as 30 percent of payments made through the developer’s applications by Facebook users, they said.