Cambridge Analytica Scandal Triggers Facebook App Audit

Fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal has seen Facebook pledge a mass audit of apps and data sharing on its site.

Further, the hashtag  #deletefacebook is gaining momentum, even landing Whatsapp Co-founder Brian Acton’s support.

The scandal concerns the use of personal data for the purposes of political consultancy. Some 50 million users are thought to have had their information accessed by the UK-based firm.

Mark Zuckerberg has promised to take a number of steps to secure users’ information from further issues of this kind.

The social media giant will investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of data pre-2014 regulation changes.

It will also carry out a “full forensic audit” of any app that shows signs of suspicious activity, and ban any developers who do not consent to such an audit.

Any users who have been affected by data sharing will be notified.

Zuckerberg also outlined a number of future changes that would occur.

Data access will be restricted “even further” – developers will not be able to access data if a user hasn’t opened their app in three months.

Apps will require approval before they can view a user’s posts or private data.

The BBC notes that Facebook seems to be placing the blame on apps, rather than taking responsibility for the breaches:

“No apology to users, investors or staff over how this incident was allowed to happen by the data policies in place at the time.

“No explanation as to why, after learning its data was being abused like this in 2014, it opted to give the companies a telling off instead of banning them outright.

“No reasoning as to why Facebook failed to inform users their data may have been affected. Technically, it still hasn’t.”

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