Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg has admitted the giant social network “made mistakes”
over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a “breach of trust” had
occurred between it and its users.
His statement follows allegations that 50 million Facebook
users’ private information was misused by the political consultancy
firm.
Mr Zuckerberg pledged to introduce a series of changes.
These would make it far harder for apps to “harvest” user
information, he said.
A breach of trust between app creator Aleksandr Kogan, Cambridge
Analytica and Facebook had occurred, Mr Zuckerberg said in a statement on his Facebook
page – his first public comments since the scandal
broke.
But he added it was also a breach of trust “between Facebook and
the people who share their data with us”.
He continued: “We have a responsibility to protect your data,
and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.
“I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible
for what happens on our platform.”
To address current and past problems, Mr Zuckerberg said
Facebook would:
- investigate all apps that had
access to large amounts of information before the platform was
changed “to dramatically reduce data access” in 2014 - conduct a full audit of any app
with suspicious activity - ban any developer that did not
agree to a thorough audit - ban developers that had misused
personally identifiable information, and “tell everyone affected by
those apps”
In future, he said Facebook would:
- restrict developers’ data access
“even further” to prevent other kinds of abuse - remove developers’ access to a
user’s data if the user hadn’t activated the developer’s app for
three months - reduce the data that users give
an app when they sign in to just name, profile photo, and email
address - require developers to obtain
approval and also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access
to their posts or other private data
Mr Zuckerberg added: “While this specific issue involving
Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today,
that doesn’t change what happened in the past.
“We will learn from this experience to secure our platform
further and make our community safer for everyone going
forward.”
Mr Kogan, the Cambridge University academic who created the app
that harvested data from 50 million Facebook users – mostly in the
US – says Cambridge Analytica and the social media firm have made
him a “scapegoat”.
He insisted he did not know his work for Cambridge Analytica in
2014 violated Facebook’s policies.
Culled From BBC
Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg has admitted the giant social network “made mistakes”
over the Cambridge Analytica scandal and a “breach of trust” had
occurred between it and its users.
His statement follows allegations that 50 million Facebook
users’ private information was misused by the political consultancy
firm.
Mr Zuckerberg pledged to introduce a series of changes.
These would make it far harder for apps to “harvest” user
information, he said.
A breach of trust between app creator Aleksandr Kogan, Cambridge
Analytica and Facebook had occurred, Mr Zuckerberg said in a statement on his Facebook
page – his first public comments since the scandal
broke.
But he added it was also a breach of trust “between Facebook and
the people who share their data with us”.
He continued: “We have a responsibility to protect your data,
and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.
“I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible
for what happens on our platform.”
To address current and past problems, Mr Zuckerberg said
Facebook would:
- investigate all apps that had
access to large amounts of information before the platform was
changed “to dramatically reduce data access” in 2014 - conduct a full audit of any app
with suspicious activity - ban any developer that did not
agree to a thorough audit - ban developers that had misused
personally identifiable information, and “tell everyone affected by
those apps”
In future, he said Facebook would:
- restrict developers’ data access
“even further” to prevent other kinds of abuse - remove developers’ access to a
user’s data if the user hadn’t activated the developer’s app for
three months - reduce the data that users give
an app when they sign in to just name, profile photo, and email
address - require developers to obtain
approval and also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access
to their posts or other private data
Mr Zuckerberg added: “While this specific issue involving
Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today,
that doesn’t change what happened in the past.
“We will learn from this experience to secure our platform
further and make our community safer for everyone going
forward.”
Mr Kogan, the Cambridge University academic who created the app
that harvested data from 50 million Facebook users – mostly in the
US – says Cambridge Analytica and the social media firm have made
him a “scapegoat”.
He insisted he did not know his work for Cambridge Analytica in
2014 violated Facebook’s policies.
Culled From BBC
Read more https://nairalaw.com/facebooks-zuckerberg-admits-mistakes-over-cambridge-analytica/