Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook said Wednesday personal data on as many as 87 million users was improperly shared with British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The new figure eclipses a previous estimate of 50 million in a further embarrassment to the social network roiled by a privacy scandal. The …
Read More »Facebook gets thumbs down for handling of data scandal
Paris, France | AFP | When it comes to its handling of the scandal over how its users’ data was harvested to help elect US President Donald Trump, Facebook gets an almighty thumbs down from crisis management experts. Public relations specialists questioned by AFP were damning in their verdict of …
Read More »Facebook overhauls privacy settings amid data breach outcry
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook on Wednesday launched a fresh effort to quell the firestorm over the hijacking of personal data, unveiling new privacy tools and settings aiming to give users more control over how their information is shared. The new features follow fierce criticism of the social network …
Read More »Indian billionaire proposes funding Facebook rival
New Delhi, India | AFP | An Indian billionaire who promised to help fund a rival to Facebook said Wednesday he had been “overwhelmed” with the response as the world grapples with concerns about data privacy. Anand Mahindra, whose Mahindra Group business empire spans everything from cars to real estate, …
Read More »EU gives Facebook ‘two weeks’ to answer data scandal questions: letter
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The European Union has given Facebook two weeks to answer questions raised by the scandal over personal data harvested from the social network, according to extracts of a letter obtained by AFP on Tuesday. The letter EU’s justice commissioner Vera Jourova sent Facebook’s chief operating officer …
Read More »Facebook as an election weapon, from Obama to Trump
New York, United States | AFP | The use of Facebook data to target voters has triggered global outrage with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. But the concept is nothing new: Barack Obama made extensive use of the social network in 2008 and stepped up “micro-targeting” in his 2012 re-election effort. …
Read More »Zuckerberg’s shine dims as guardian of Facebook users
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Mark Zuckerberg rose to wealth and fame with a mission of connecting everyone through Facebook, but now faces the wrath of users outraged he isn’t doing more to defend their data. The latest crisis laying siege to the leading online social network has …
Read More »EU leaders urge privacy protection amid Facebook row
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU leaders will Thursday press tech giants to protect personal data in the wake of the scandal over information harvested from Facebook, draft summit conclusions said. The Brussels summit is tackling the row over the misuse of Facebook data by British firm Cambridge Analytica, which …
Read More »As Facebook scandal mushrooms, Zuckerberg vows to ‘step up’
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to “step up” to fix problems at the social media giant, as it fights a snowballing scandal over the hijacking of personal data from millions of its users. “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and …
Read More »Commonwealth Games abandons data mining after Facebook scandal
Sydney, Australia | AFP | A plan to mine data from Commonwealth Games visitors who use free and fast wifi in Australia was abandoned Thursday as a privacy scandal swirls around social media giant Facebook. The local Gold Coast council is offering a service up to 10 times normal speed …
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