Facebook Tells Users Whether Private Data
Shared

Facebook says it will begin informing users
as to whether their personal data may have been wrongly shared with a British
research company.

Beginning Monday, Facebook said users who
may have had private data shared with Cambridge Analytica will receive a
message about it in their News Feed.

The company believes up to 87 million people
might be have been affected. Facebook says most of them are in the United
States. It says there were about a million users affected each in the
Philippines, Indonesia and Britain.

Facebook says the information Cambridge
Analytica got was first collected by a researcher at Cambridge University. The
researcher gathered the data in 2013 through an app that asked users a series
of questions for what was described as a personality test.

The users used Facebook to sign into the
app. Facebook says information may have also been shared on people who did not
sign into the app, if they were Facebook friends with users who did.

Last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
admitted the company made mistakes in dealing with Cambridge Analytica. The
company says it is continuing to investigate the incident. Zuckerberg
apologized and said the social media service is already taking steps to prevent
misuse of user data in the future.

Facebook has also created a link that shows
all users what apps and websites they used Facebook to sign into. From the
link, users can remove ones they no longer want connected to Facebook.

Cambridge Analytica uses a research method
that involves “psychographs.” The method aims to use data it collects to
predict personal behaviors.

Cambridge Analytica data was used during
the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The company worked for then-candidate
Donald Trump. A Trump campaign official has said the campaign did not use
Cambridge Analytica for voter information.

Zuckerberg has been called to testify
before several Congressional committees beginning on Tuesday. He is expected to
speak about the Cambridge Analytica situation and discuss Facebook’s privacy
policies.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA
Learning English, based on information from Facebook and reports from the
Associated Press and Reuters. Caty Weaver was the editor.

Do you think Facebook is handling the
situation with Cambridge Analytica​ correctly? Write to
us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

app – n. computer program that performs a
special function​

personality – n. set of emotional
qualities, ways of behaving, etc., that makes a person different from other
people