Facebook users affected be receiving a detailed message on their news feeds (or, if you cannot wait for yours to come through, you can visit this page and find out immediately). Of the 87 million, 70 million are estimated to be living in the U.S., according to The Daily Telegraph. For those who have received the message, Facebook has provided a tool for users to check if their information could have been shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Both Facebook and London-based elections consultancy Cambridge Analytica (through the former Facebook app ‘This Is Your Digital Life’) are at the center of an ongoing dispute over the alleged harvesting and use of personal data, s widely reported on news media, including Digital Journal.
Protecting you data on Facebook
In addition, all 2.2 billion Facebook users will have received a notice called “Protecting Your Information”. The message contains a link that allows users of the world’s biggest social network site to check apps they have used and what information they have, most likely inadvertently, shared with these apps. The message also gives users the option to shut off apps individually or even to turn off all third-party access to their apps completely.
Furthermore, Facebook members seeking be more proactive about their privacy can read the newly worded Facebook terms of service and separate data use policy. These policies have been rewritten in order to make the language less ambiguous.
Ongoing crisis for Facebook
Meanwhile the impact of the Facebook crisis continues to rumble on. The Guardian reports that both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica face class action lawsuits from U.S. and U.K based legal teams. In further news, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has left Facebook, stating “I was surprised to see how many categories for ads and how many advertisers I had to get rid of, one at a time. I did not feel that this is what people want done to them.” Wozniak is one of many to have quit the social media service. This follows Facebook pages of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc. disappearing last week. Some of this is in response to a Twitter campaign under the label #DeleteFacebook.
New potential data issue: Cubeyou
In attempt to show it is sorting things out, Facebook has suspended another data analytics firm called Cubeyou, as CNBC reports. This is in advance of an investigation. Cubeyou may have collected data for ostensibly for academic purposes and then used it for commercial purposes.
In a separate move, Digital Journal has reported in light of both the data misuse and increasing questions over the credibility of material that purports to be ‘news’, Facebook is to embark on a page verification program. This means all “large” pages will be audited.
