Thursday, March 28

Tag: Cambridge Analytica

Facebook Agreed to Pay $725 million to settle Cambridge Analytica Case
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Facebook Agreed to Pay $725 million to settle Cambridge Analytica Case

California, 25th Dec, 2022: World's leading social media platform Facebook has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that facebook allowed sharing of millions of its users' personal information to Cambridge Analytica. Terms of the settlement reached by Meta Platforms, the holding company for Facebook and Instagram, were disclosed in court documents filed late Thursday. It will still need to be approved by a judge in a San Francisco federal court hearing set for March. The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. Voters during the 2016...
Cambridge Analytica Boss Banned from Holding Company Directorships
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Cambridge Analytica Boss Banned from Holding Company Directorships

LONDON, 26th Sept. 2020— The boss of Cambridge Analytica has been banned from holding company directorships for seven years effective from 5 October 2020 over a scandal on Facebook users’ private data theft. Britain’s Insolvency Service banned Alexander Nix from running companies after he permitted Cambridge Analytica’s parent firm, SCL Elections Ltd., and connected firms to “market themselves as offering potentially unethical services to prospective clients.” U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica was accused of playing a key role in the 2014 breach of 87 million Facebook users’ personal data. The company denied it used the data for Trump’s 2016 election campaign, but some former employees have disputed that. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that it was “entirely possible” the social ...
Facebook Boardroom War in Swing : Investor’s Want Mark Zuckerberg To Step Down
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Facebook Boardroom War in Swing : Investor’s Want Mark Zuckerberg To Step Down

Amidst growing series of scandals, data breach allegations, and Cambridge Analytica disaster, social media company Facebook is facing investor's fury where investors are growing increasingly restless on how Facebook is run, demanding radical changes. According to Business Insider's conversation with six prominent shareholders, it is clear that investors have become rebellious over company's corporate governance structure which hands Mark Zuckerberg the sole power as both CEO and Chairman. New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who oversees around $895 million of Facebook shares through city pension funds said,  "We have concerns about the structure of the board that the company doesn't seem ready to address, which can lead to risks - reputational, regulatory, and otherwise." While ...
Govt Won’t Tolerate Misuse of Data to Influence Polls: IT Minister
INDIA

Govt Won’t Tolerate Misuse of Data to Influence Polls: IT Minister

IT Minister Ravi Shankar has warned social media companies against misusing user's data to influence upcoming 2019 elections, saying that it would no longer be tolerated. Moreover, the government is also looking forward to Justice Srikrishna Committee report on data protection and law. Speaking in the context, Prasad added, “We won’t tolerate misuse of data to influence elections. While the data of Indians has to be protected at any cost, India should also develop itself as a hub for data analysis.” The statement from IT Ministry comes in the wake of Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal wherein data of 5.62 lakh Indian users was compromised among 87 Mn global users. Denouncing such misuse of data, the minister vehemently proclaimed, In the wake of the recent data theft from Fa...
Facebook Responds to Indian Government Notice over Data Breach
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Facebook Responds to Indian Government Notice over Data Breach

Social Media company Facebook which has been in "hot waters" for a while now has responded to Indian government's latest notice on alleged data breach outlining in detail the “changes made” to protect users’ information. The U.K based data firm, Cambridge Analytica, on the other hand, is yet to send a formal response to Government's second notice as informed by an IT official. Once the replies from both the parties get sought, a view will be taken and reviewed for examination. Meanwhile, a representative from Facebook said in an email statement, "We are committed to protecting people's information and safeguarding the integrity of elections in India." We hope we have helped to answer important questions about the changes we have made to further protect users information as well as e...
Facebook Data Scandal Firm Cambridge Analytica is Shutting Down
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Facebook Data Scandal Firm Cambridge Analytica is Shutting Down

Cambridge Analytica, the British political consulting firm that was severely criticized and blamed responsible for extracting personal information from over 87 million Facebook users for ad targeting during the 2016 US Elections, announced that it was shutting down the company. The company still claims innocence to the allegations but states that the reason for shutting down operations is due to the negative media coverage that made it lose its clientele as well as the excessive legal fees it has to pay due to the scandal it got involved in. “Despite Cambridge Analytica’s unwavering confidence that its employees have acted ethically and lawfully, the siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company’s customers and suppliers,” the company released in a statement. “As ...
Despite Data Leak Scandal, Facebook Profit Increases
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Despite Data Leak Scandal, Facebook Profit Increases

Facebook recorded a significant increase in profits in the first quarter of 2018, thanks to a growing user base and bigger revenues from ads as the social media giant seems to suffer neither harm nor backlash after the recent data leak of over 87 million Facebook users. The profits the Silicon Valley-headquartered company recorded in the first quarter of this year soared by over 63% from last year to $5 billion, while total revenues witnessed an increase of 49% to $11.97 billion, according to earning figures shared by the company. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who despite spending most of the last month under pressure from the international community following the news of his company failing to protect data of millions of users from a third-party app, shared a message to investors ...
The Top 5 Biggest Controversies of Facebook
Story

The Top 5 Biggest Controversies of Facebook

It is rightly said, “Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots." The quote from Frank A. Clark rightly fits in the scenario, where world's biggest media website Facebook is ongoing a heated criticism worldwide post its data breach controversy and Cambridge analytica scandal. But, you would be surprised to know, this is not the first time when the social media giant has been in "hot waters". Right from its foundation, early days to its taking the online world, it has faced numerous brickbats and contention time and again that has garnered a lot of attention worldwide. The company that today has nearly 2.2 billion monthly active users worldwide has witnessed some major controversies time and again. It has faced debacles over priva...
Even Zuckerberg Personal Data was Breached by Cambridge Analytica
News

Even Zuckerberg Personal Data was Breached by Cambridge Analytica

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, and CEO of Facebook revealed shocking news during the testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee that even his personal data was taken and sold by UK based analysis firm Cambridge Analytica. 87 million users personal data harvested by the company is used for political purposes in the US presidential elections. In which half of the million data of Indian users. During the series of questions asking by the committee, Zuckerberg was asked if his personal data was included in the information sold to the "malicious third parties" to which he replied "yes". As per the guidelines are given by the US Congress committee, Facebook has started to notify those users whose data have been breached. Zuckerberg said, "it is going to take some time to wor...
Mark Zuckerberg – “It Was My Mistake, I’m Sorry.”
News

Mark Zuckerberg – “It Was My Mistake, I’m Sorry.”

Ahead of his hearing in front of Capitol Hill today, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg once again issued an apology for failing to protect the data of tens of millions of Facebook users and laid emphasis on the new policies put into effect since the scandal was came to light by media outlets. Zuckerberg also conceded that the multiple tools that Facebook used on its social platform was misused for unfair practices. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry, Zuckerberg said ahead of his appearance before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees today. He is also scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here, the CEO added. Zuckerberg is now set to appear at Capitol Hill after the C...
After Elon Musk, More Tech Moguls Are Deleting Facebook
News

After Elon Musk, More Tech Moguls Are Deleting Facebook

Facebook is currently facing a privacy crisis after reports emerged that third party apps such as Cambridge Analytica could access personal user data per millions and use these informations for unfair practices. Consequently, a campaign against the social media giant followed under the banner #DeleteFaceboook which was picked up by several personalities in the tech industry such as Whatsapp co-founder Brian Acton and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Reports are now emerging that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has also shut down his Facebook account obviously concerned by the data policy and possible breaches of private information. He sent an email to USA Today explaining the motive behind his decision to leave Facebook, stating that Facebook enrich themselves by selling users' inform...
Whatsapp Also Admitted That Its Sharing Users Information
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Whatsapp Also Admitted That Its Sharing Users Information

World's leading chat messenger WhatsApp partially admitted on the media reports that it is keeping track of the messages and also collects data of users, even after end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp the popular instant messaging service with over 200 million active users in India might not be as secure as being claimed. Questions were also being raised over certain provisions of the user agreement wherein most of its wrongdoings would go un-remedied and unchallenged. A representative of a WhatsApp said to the media, "That we collect very little data and every message is end-to-end encrypted. Contrary to recent comments in the media, we are not keeping track of the friends and family you have messaged. The privacy and security of our users are incredibly important to WhatsApp. The invi...