Facebook suspends ‘around 200’ apps, reviewing misuse of data
Facebook said Monday that it has suspended “around 200” applications from its platform “pending a thorough investigation into whether they did in fact misuse any data.” (Adweek)
The social media giant said in a blog post Monday that the suspensions resulted from its investigation into all apps that had access to large amounts of information before Facebook changed its platform policies in 2014. Those changes, according to Facebook, significantly reduced the amount of data apps could access. (THR / AP)
The investigation is making good on Mark Zuckerberg’s March promise to find other apps like Cambridge Analytica—i.e., ones that collected data not just from Facebook users who signed up for the apps, but also all of their friends. That’s the tactic that allowed Cambridge Analytica to have access to the data of “up to” 87 million people, thanks to 270,000 people who signed up for the app. (Mashable)
Facebook didn’t identify any of the 200 apps. Over the past two months, the company has investigated “thousands” of apps that had previously been granted such access, according to Ime Archibong, vp of product partnerships. (Variety)
A company spokesperson said Facebook is still very early on in the audit process. It’s highly likely there will be more potential offenders Facebook decides to suspend. (Recode)
photo/ Gerd Altmann
