New Tool Instantly Tells You if Facebook Violated Your Privacy
In an apparent effort to restore user trust, Facebook is now allowing its users to see whether their personal data was shared with Cambridge Analytica.
The social media platform has been dealing with serious backlash after it was revealed that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica collected personal data of around 80 million Facebook users for political purposes.
Since then, Facebook has added a page to its platform’s help center titled, “How can I tell if my info was shared with Cambridge Analytica?””
“Recently, we shared information about the potential misuse of your Facebook data by apps and websites,” the page states. “We also shared plans for how we’re taking action to prevent this from happening in the future.”
“Check below to see if your information may have been shared with Cambridge Analytica by the app ‘This Is Your Digital Life.'”
The results from Facebook’s findings are specific to the app “This Is Your Digital Life” — a quiz app developed by university researcher Dr. Aleksandr Kogan. However, as noted by technology website VentureBeat, “It is certainly possible that your Facebook data was compromised in another way, by Cambridge Analytica or by a different firm (indeed, Facebook has already suspended two more companies: CubeYou and AggregateIQ).”
The user will then be notified if their information was shared, with one of two possible responses.
Either “Based on our available records, neither you nor your friends logged into ‘This Is Your Digital Life.’ As a result, it doesn’t appear your Facebook information was shared with Cambridge Analytica by ‘This Is Your Digital Life,’ or “Based on our investigation, you don’t appear to have logged into ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ with Facebook before we removed it from our platform in 2015. However, a friend of yours did log in. As a result, the following information was likely shared with ‘This Is Your Digital Life.'”
To tell if you’ve been affected, you can click here, or go to the Facebook Help Center here and type in, “How can I tell if my info was shared with Cambridge Analytica?”
Over 70 million affected users are in the United States, but there are also over one million each in the Philippines, Indonesia and the United Kingdom, Facebook says.
Facebook CEO and tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg testified this week in front of Congress regarding data breaches and political bias concerns at Facebook.
As reported by The Western Journal, Zuckerberg has been questioned by congressmen about the social platform’s handling of data and user privacy, as well as its possible suppression of conservative publishers.
“Does Facebook consider itself a neutral public forum?” Texas Senator Ted Cruz asked Zuckerberg Tuesday. “Are you a First Amendment speaker expressing your views or are you a neutral public forum allowing everyone to speak?”
After responding that his company does not allow certain content like hate speech and nudity, Zuckerberg admitted, “This is actually a concern that I have, and that I try to root out at the company — is making sure that we don’t have any bias in the work that we do.
“I think it is a fair concern that people would at least wonder about.”
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