Facebook Admits Privacy Scandal Larger Than Thought
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NEW YORK (CBSMiami) - Social media giant Facebook has acknowledged that its privacy scandal is much bigger than they originally thought.
Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to testify before two congressional hearings next week. On Wednesday, he made a stunning admission that that most of its two-billion users have likely had their personal information collected and shared with outsiders.
"It's clear now that we didn't do enough. That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, hate speech, in addition to developers and data privacy," he said. "That was a huge mistake."
Facebook now says a data collection firm with ties to the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica, gained unauthorized access to personal information of up to 87 million users, including 70 million Americans during the 2016 election. That's an increase from the 50 million originally reported.
"You know I think at this point I clearly made a mistake by just dismissing fake news as crazy, as having an impact. People will analyze the actual impact of this for a long time to come," said Zuckerberg.
Also on Wednesday, Facebook revamped its privacy tools again. Tech experts say there's still more to learn about how Facebook tracks users.
"What Mr. Zuckerberg didn't talk about is off-site tracking, mobile tracking, and tracking for users who have been deactivated or deleted. We have not learned the extent to which Facebook targets its users," said Tech Republic CBSN contributor Dan Patterson.
Starting Monday the social media network will put a link at the top of people's news feed that lets them easily manage the apps they use and see what information they share. As part of that process, Facebook says users will also be able to see if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Facebook also says it's removing the option to search for users by entering a phone number or an email address.
