Facebook Data Breach. Is It Time To End Our Facebook Life?

Shivam Singhal
Mar 30, 2018
4 min read

Not deactivate, mind you – actually end things once and for all. Facebook has not been able to catch a break lately. Facebook’s value drops $40B as stock tumbles over data scandal. In the wake of Facebook having failed to protect user data from being drained by Cambridge Analytica. Facebook is facing huge loss in the market.

After all giving up our privacy is the price we pay for getting to use Facebook for free. This weekend, the public learned data company Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed 50 million Facebook users' personal information to influence the 2016 election.

Breach leaves Facebook users wondering: how safe is my data? That’s likely to be too extreme for many of us. But at the very least, it’s definitely time to check Facebook privacy settings, audit Facebook apps, and consider turning off API sharing.

With the #DeleteFacebook movement gaining momentum in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica expose, tech luminaries are chiming in, lending their support to the campaign. First, it was WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton who posted a Tweet urging Facebook users to leave the social networking site for failing to respect the privacy of its users, and now, it is the turn of Elon Musk to go one step further and actually do it. One of the biggest names in the tech industry has just deleted Facebook accounts of at least three of the companies he founded – Tesla, SpaceX and Solar City. That’s right.

Let’s take a quick recap: over the weekend, news emerged about Facebook having lost control of 50 million users’ data. Facebook admits collecting the following data via Facebook Data Policy.

Things you do when you use Facebook:

The information other people submit about you, including info, photos, and messages sent to you.
Your networks and connections.
Information about payments made through Facebook.
Device information about the gadgets you use to access Facebook.
Location information, uncovered through your device.
Information from websites and apps that use Facebook services.
Information from third-party partners, like advertisers.
Information from Facebook-owned companies, like WhatsApp and Instagram.

With Facebook getting mired in it’s biggest-ever controversy following a massive Data breach, everyone is asking one question: Where is it's CEO Mark Zuckerberg?

Not only Zuckerberg has remained quiet so far, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg who has been the face of the company's PR strategy is yet to speak on the data Scandal.

Facebook is facing the heat after Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting Company, was accused of harvesting data of up to 50 million Facebook users without permission and using the data to help politicians, including US President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign.

European Union (EU) and British lawmakers have demanded that social media Giant Facebook should clarify data breach following revelations that personal data was massively misused for political purposes .After this Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica from it's platform.

Because of the breach investors worried that damage to the reputation of the world’s largest social media network would deter users and advertisers, so as a result that day Facebook shares closed down nearly 7 percent, wiping nearly $40 Billion off it's market value.

According to IANS, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research created an app called “thisisyourdigitallife” in 2014. The users were paid to take a psychological test and the app collected the data. It also gathered data. It also gathered data on a person’s Facebook friends. The app was downloaded by 270000 people.

Kogan admitted to harvesting the personal details of 30 million Facebook via the App. He was quoted by the Guardian as saying that he passed the data to Cambridge Analytica who assured him this was legal, IANS reported. Facebook said Kogan then violated it's policies by passing the data to Cambridge Analytica.

Kogan says he changed the terms and conditions of his personality-test app on Facebook

from academic to commercial part way thought the project, according to email to Cambridge University colleagues obtained cited by CNN.

Kogan says Facebook made no objection, but Facebook says it was not informed of the change, CNN reported. Kogan was not immediately reachable for comment.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken out full page adverts in a string of national newspapers to apologize for “breach of trust”. In the letter he admits there are probably more examples of breaches yet to be uncovered. "We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can't, we don't deserve it", said the advert, signed by Facebook founder Zuckerberg.

Facebook said it had been told that the data were destroyed.

Facebook said: "Several days ago, we received reports that, contrary to the certifications we were given, not all data were deleted…

Now the question is...

Sadly, there's no way to know if your data has been harvested right now. The good news is that the information being harvested is technically public, because it's on your Facebook profile.

That means you probably don't need to worry about being scammed or hacked as a result of the alleged breach.

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