Facebook fails to protect its users’ online privacy – again

Facebook failed to protect the personal information of 50 million of its users following a cyber-attack, the company said. The attackers exploited a feature in Facebook’s code.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has failed to protect its users’ online privacy. Last year, the New York Times reported that had Facebook failed to protect 50 million users’ data from Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling company connected to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. In response to the scandal, Facebook faced scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. The UK fined Facebook for the scandal.

“The endless pattern of Facebook abusing users’ privacy and apologizing for its actions shows CEO Mark Zuckerberg can no longer control the monstrous monopoly he created,” said the Freedom from Facebook coalition, of which CWA is a member. “Facebook’s business model - which profits off selling our personal information to any advertiser or marketer who will pay up - is the problem. The privacy abuses will not stop until the FTC puts consumers first and takes action by breaking up Facebook, imposing strong privacy rules on the platform, and finds it in violation of its consent decree.”

Links:

Facebook Network Breach Impacts Up to 50 Million Users (New York Times, Sept. 28, 2018)

Facebook fails to protect 50 million users’ data from Trump-connected breach (Speed Matters, Mar. 19, 2018)

United Kingdom fines Facebook for Cambridge Analytica scandal (Speed Matters, July 11, 2018)