Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 22-03-2018

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says the social media company will be investigating every app to see if any other companies exploited data after a political consultancy company improperly used Facebook data on behalf of political clients.

According to Reuters, Zuckerberg, in his first public comments since the scandal erupted at the weekend, said in a post on Facebook that the company “made mistakes in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information.

The world’s largest social media network is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States (US) about a whistleblower’s allegations that London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to build profiles on American voters which were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

While Zuckerberg did not elaborate on what the mistakes were, he told CNN the social network plans to conduct an investigation of apps on its platform, restrict developer access to data, and give members a tool that lets them more easily disable access to their Facebook data.

“This was a major breach of trust. I’m really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people’s data.”
Zuckerberg says he was open to additional government regulation and happy to testify before the US Congress if he was the right person.

“I’m not sure we shouldn’t be regulated. I actually think the question is more what is the right regulation rather than yes or no, should it be regulated? … People should know who is buying the ads that they see on Facebook.”

Facebook has lost more than $45 billion of its stock market value over the past three days on investor fears that any failure by big tech firms to protect personal data could deter advertisers and users and invite tougher regulation.

Twitter: @FaizelPatel143