Facebook said a tool that let people share their friends’ data with developers was in compliance with a 2011 privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission….
Facebook said a tool that let people share their friends’ data with developers was in compliance with a 2011 privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission.
That is the feature that allowed a researcher to get information on as many as 87 million people from 270,000 users who downloaded his quiz app.
He later transferred the data to political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The FTC is investigating whether Facebook violated a 2011 decree that requires Facebook to get consent from users before sharing information.
“I think we’re very confident that was in compliance with the FTC consent decree,” Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said on Thursday in an interview.
A spokeswoman later clarified that the data on friends who were not direct users of the app was passed along in adherence with their privacy settings, sharing only public information.
Sandberg said “a few” advertisers have paused their spending as they wait for the company to answer questions on user privacy.
“We’ve seen a few advertisers pause with us and they’re asking the same questions that other people are asking,” Sandberg said. “They want to make sure they can use data and use it safely.”
Sandberg said she is having “reassuring conversations with advertisers, just as we are with people,” about how Facebook has built privacy into its system. The company makes almost all its revenue and profit from advertising.
The social network is reviewing its products and data policies to find further ways to protect users from being exploited, after reports that Cambridge Analytica, a political consultant, obtained information on as many as 87 million people without their permission.
That crisis has led to broad questions about how Facebook treats users’ data. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify about the issue at congressional hearings next week.
