Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally spoken out about the “breach of trust between Facebook and the people who share their data with us,” following revelations that an app developer shared personal data on millions of users, without their knowledge.
In a post on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg writes that in 2013 Aleksandr Kogan shared users’ personal data with Cambridge Analytica, a firm that helps elect political candidates. Zuckerberg explained how it took media reports, over several years, to fully reveal what was happening.
In 2015, we learned from journalists at The Guardian that Kogan had shared data from his app with Cambridge Analytica. It is against our policies for developers to share data without people’s consent, so we immediately banned Kogan’s app from our platform, and demanded that Kogan and Cambridge Analytica formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data. They provided these certifications.
AdvertisementLast week, we learned from The Guardian, The New York Times and Channel 4 that Cambridge Analytica may not have deleted the data as they had certified. We immediately banned them from using any of our services. Cambridge Analytica claims they have already deleted the data and has agreed to a forensic audit by a firm we hired to confirm this. We’re also working with regulators as they investigate what happened.
He’s also promising change, which he explains in his post.