Facebook Data Privacy Scandal: A Cheat Sheet - TechRepublic

Facebook-Cambridge Analytica: A timeline of the data hijacking scandal

Facebook is desperately trying to mend its damaged reputation following the continued fallout of a massive data scandal.

Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal

The data was collected through an app called "This Is Your Digital Life", developed by data scientist Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research in 2013.[2] The app consisted of a series of questions to build psychological profiles on users, and collected the personal data of the users' Facebook friends via Facebook's Open Graph platform.[2] The app harvested the data of up to 87 million Facebook profiles.[2] Cambridge Analytica used the data to analytically assist the 2016 presidential campaigns of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.[3][4] Cambridge Analytica was also widely accused of interfering with the Brexit referendum, although the official investigation recognised that the company was not involved "beyond some initial enquiries" and that "no significant breaches" took place.[5][6]

553,000,000 Reasons Not to Let Facebook Make Decisions About Your

Another day, another horrific Facebook privacy scandal. We know what comes next: Facebook will argue that losing a lot of our data means bad third-party actors are the real problem that we should

Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica problems are nothing compared to what’s coming for all of online publishing

Let’s start with Facebook’s Surveillance Machine, by Zeynep Tufekci in last Monday’s New York Times. Among other things (all correct), Zeynep explains that “Facebook makes m…

Opinion | Zuckerberg’s So-Called Shift Toward Privacy (Published 2019)

Facebook is happy to protect user data when doing so decreases the company’s civic responsibilities — but not when it threatens advertising revenue.

Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained

Why House investigators think this company might have gamed Facebook and helped Russia spread fake news.

One Response to the Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Block Facebook's

With Facebook in a dominant position in hosting a huge portion of the world’s social conversation, we’ve been worried about the incredible power the company has accumulated and the risks that poses

As Facebook Raised a Privacy Wall, It Carved an Opening for Tech Giants (Published 2018)

Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people’s data than it has disclosed.

Opinion | Facebook’s Surveillance Machine (Published 2018)

It’s true that the Cambridge Analytica incident wasn’t a security breach. It was something far worse.

Privacy concerns with Facebook

Facebook and other services by Meta Platforms (doing business as Meta) have faced a number of privacy concerns. These stem partly from the company's revenue model that involves selling information collected about its users for many things including advertisement targeting. Meta has also been a part of many data breaches that have occurred within the company. These issues and others are further described including user data concerns, vulnerabilities in the company's platform, investigations by pressure groups and government agencies, and even issues with students. In addition, employers and other organizations/individuals have been known to use Meta for their own purposes. As a result, individuals' identities and private information have sometimes been compromised without their permission. In response to these growing privacy concerns, some pressure groups and government agencies have increasingly asserted the users' right to privacy and to be able to control their personal data.

Facebook may stop the data leaks, but it’s too late: Cambridge Analytica’s models live on

Long after the training data has been deleted, the models can continue being improved and used to influence future voters.

Facebook Had Years to Fix the Flaw That Leaked 500M Users’ Data

Software makers can’t catch every bug every time, but Facebook had ample warning about the privacy problems with its “contact import” feature.

Facebook’s Privacy Cake

Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking is not some dramatic pivot: it is a growth opportunity for Facebook and a challenge for regulators.

2021 Facebook leak

In 2021, an internal document leak from Facebook (now Meta Platforms, or Meta) showed it was aware of harmful societal effects from its platforms, yet persisted in prioritizing profit over addressing these harms. The leak, released by whistleblower Frances Haugen, resulted in reporting from The Wall Street Journal in September, as The Facebook Files series from journalist Jeff Horwitz, as well as the Facebook Papers, by a consortium of news outlets the next months.

Ted Cruz campaign using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users

Exclusive: Documents reveal donor-funded US startup embedded in Republican’s campaign paid UK university academics to collect psychological profiles on potential voters