Facebook, which is facing the heat in many countries over the ongoing data-privacy scandal, will now tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook, in a blog post revealed that information of up to 87 million people may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. Most of these users are in the US (close to 81.6 per cent), followed by Philippines as personal data of 1.4 per cent users was shared without consent and Indonesia at 1.3 per cent. In India, data of 0.6 per cent Facebook users have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, according to the company. This means, more than five lakh users in India were affected by the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach, raising privacy concerns.
How to check if Facebook data has been shared with Cambridge Analytica?
Facebook, which is facing the heat in many countries over the ongoing data-privacy scandal, will now tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. The social media giant has announced a new “See how you’re affected” tool, which will roll out to all users in the coming weeks.
Facebook’s new tool will appear at the top of News Feed, informing users if their personal information has been shared with Cambridge Analytica without their consent. The notification will have a link to a Help Center page for users who want to know more. Facebook is yet to make available the tool to all of its users so not everyone might be able to see it at this point.
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Facebook users who have not been affected by the breach will see a different link to the apps people have connected to Facebook and the access they have granted to these apps. Notably, Facebook will be blocked from accessing the data of people who haven’t used an app in 90 days.
Facebook privacy updates
Facebook has also announced a several changes to restrict data access on its platform. This includes updates for Events, Groups and Pages UPI, Facebook Login, Instagram platform API and more. Let us take a look at new privacy changes that Facebook has rolled out for users:
Events API
Facebook is restricting access to guest lists or posts on event wall. This means apps that use Events API to find out the people attending an event, including private events or look at posts on event wall, will no longer be able to do so. In the future, the company will only allow approved apps to use the Events API.
In India, data of 0.6 per cent Facebook users have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, according to the company.
Groups API
All third-party apps using the Groups API will now need approval from Facebook in addition to admin to access group content for closed groups. The apps help admins easily post and respond to content in their groups. Facebook will now allow these apps to access the members list of a group. The social media giant is also removing personal information like names and profile photos, attached to posts or comments that approved apps can access.
Pages API
Facebook is limiting access given to apps that allowed them to use the Pages API to read posts or comments from any Page. The move is aimed at ensuring that Page information is only available to relevant apps.
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Facebook Login
Facebook will now approve all apps that seek access to information such as check-ins, Photos, likes, videos, events and groups. The apps will have to fulfil “strict requirements” before they can access user’s personal data. Apps will no longer be allowed by Facebook to ask for access to personal information such as religious or political views, relationship status and details, custom friends lists, education and work history, fitness activity, book reading activity, music listening activity, news reading, video watch activity, and games activity.
Search and Account Recovery
Facebook is now disabling the feature that allowed people to enter another person’s phone number or email address into Facebook search to help find them.
Call and Text History
Facebook says it will delete all logs that are older than a year, when it comes to call and text history. The feature is available for Messenger as well as Facebook Lite app for Android. It will continue showing people users most frequently connect with at the top of their contact list by collecting information that is needed to offer this feature. The company has made it clear that it does not collect the content of messages.
App Controls
Facebook users will now see a link to what apps they use at the top of their News Feed. The information that they have shared with those apps will also be displayed. This will make it easy for people to remove apps they no longer want to use.