Facebook: Cambridge Analytica got its hands on the details of 87 million users

clock • 2 min read

Zuckerberg admits Facebook 'should have done more' to prevent the data leaks

Facebook has admitted that Cambridge Analytica, the marketing firm that claimed to have swung the US presidential election for Donald Trump, was able to access the details of 87 million Facebook users - not 50 million.

Facebook's chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer made the admission overnight. He suggested that Cambridge Analytica may have had data of up to 87 million Facebook users.

This has prompted Facebook to take action to limit how much data third-parties can scrape from its social network via legitimate APIs.

"We believe these changes will better protect people's information while still enabling developers to create useful experiences. We know we have more work to do — and we'll keep you updated as we make more changes," said Schroepfer.

But continuing with what would seem like an admission of guilt over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook founder and big boss Mark Zuckerberg has said his company didn't do enough to prevent the abuse of the harvested data.

"It's clear now that we didn't focus enough on preventing abuse," he said in an interview with the press. "We didn't take a broad enough view of what our responsibility is. That was a huge mistake, and it was my mistake.

"Knowing what I know today, clearly we should have done more," he said.

Zuckerberg is taking full responsibility for the mistake and said that no Facebook employees have been fired over the scandal, although he still believes he's the best guy to run Facebook, despite the hammering the company's stock price has taken as the scandal as unfolded. 

"Life is about learning from the mistakes and figuring out what you need to do to move forward," he said.

However, keeping the platform more secure will be a challenge: if the company tightens up its data sharing practices, it will almost certainly be targeted by hackers. 

"You never fully solve security. It's an arms race," Zuckerberg said. "I'm confident that we're making progress against these adversaries, but they're very sophisticated."

Zuckerberg's somewhat belated interviews and admissions of responsibility come ahead of a grilling he is expected to receive from US congressmen, although he snubbed a similar request to give evidence before a House of Commons committee

You may also like
Facebook and Instagram down across the world

Social Networking

Facebook and Instagram are both down for many users around the world.

clock 05 March 2024 • 1 min read
Meta faces $596 million Spanish lawsuit for GDPR violation

Law

The giant also faces further reputational damage in the US, as an academic claims that Meta used its financial heft to block her constitutional right to free speech

clock 05 December 2023 • 2 min read
Second Meta whistleblower testifies about failure to protect teens

Privacy

Arturo Béjar voiced his frustration with the lack of action taken by Meta to address the harm experienced by teenagers on their platforms.

clock 08 November 2023 • 3 min read

Sign up to our newsletter

The best news, stories, features and photos from the day in one perfectly formed email.

More on Security

China Crisis: Government blames China for Electoral Commission cyberattack

China Crisis: Government blames China for Electoral Commission cyberattack

Also accuses Chinese state-affiliated actors of trying to hack MPs emails

Penny Horwood
clock 26 March 2024 • 5 min read
A cyber-focused attorney on why 'Data is the hot potato'

A cyber-focused attorney on why 'Data is the hot potato'

Shawn Tuma, partner and co-chair of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group at Spencer Fane LLP, shares some tips on cybersecurity for companies to follow.

Samara Lynn
clock 26 March 2024 • 3 min read
Asian Tech Roundup: Failure at Fujitsu

Asian Tech Roundup: Failure at Fujitsu

Plus, China cracks knuckles

Tom Allen
clock 22 March 2024 • 2 min read