The largest data breach in Facebook’s history has seen over 50 million people’s profiles harvested for data, The Guardian reported at the weekend.
Facebook has confirmed it is facing questions from the US Federal Trade Commission over the role of the data in the US 2016 election.
British data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica is at the centre of the scandal, ex-employee and whistleblower Christopher Wylie revealed that Cambridge Analytica captured the data through a research app used by psychologists called “thisisyourdigitallife”.
Mr Wylie alleges that the breach occurred when 270,000 Facebook users signed up and were paid to take personality tests. The app not only collected information of the user that signed up to the tests, but also the personal information of that user’s Facebook friends, whose privacy settings were set to allow sharing with a friend’s app.
Cambridge Analytica denied any wrongdoing, claiming it fully complied with Facebook’s terms of service. Facebook has suspended Cambridge Analytica and several individuals from its site while it investigates the claims.
In two days, US$40 billion has been wiped from Facebook’s market value.
What do you think? Are you concerned about your Facebook privacy? Does such an alleged breach dent your trust in the social network?
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