The Latest: Facebook users now being told if data taken
WASHINGTON — The Latest on Facebook’s privacy scandal and Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional testimony (all times local):
11:30 a.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says users whose personal information was obtained by data-mining firm tied to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign are being informed, starting this week.
Zuckerberg told a lawmaker during his appearance Wednesday he believes the notices about Cambridge Analytica’s possession of their information began going out Monday.
It’s unclear how many of the 87 million affected users have received their notices. Zuckerberg didn’t elaborate because he was being pressed to keep his answers as brief as possible by Rep. Anna Eshoo, the Democrat from Silicon Valley who was questioning him.
Facebook has set up a page where any Facebook user can check to see if Cambridge Analytica vacuumed up any of their information. Zuckerberg told Congress that the firm got some of his information.
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11:03 a.m.
Mark Zuckerberg says his Facebook data was included in the personal information sold to malicious third parties, a reference to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that has rocked his company over the past several weeks.
Facing his second day of questioning from members of Congress on Wednesday, Zuckerberg was answering a question from Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California.
Facebook has said that 87 million people’s personal data was scooped up when some 270,000 users took a personality quiz and had not just their data, but the data of their friends to be accessed by an outside app. Cambridge Analytica then obtained this data and is said to have used it to try to influence elections around the world.
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10:55
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he believes it is “inevitable” that there will be regulation of his industry.
Lawmakers in both parties have floated possible regulation of Facebook and other social media companies amid privacy scandals and Russian intervention on the platform. It’s not clear what that regulation would look like.
Zuckerberg said at a House hearing Wednesday that it is “inevitable that there will be some sort of regulation.” But he warned that lawmakers should be careful in what they propose. He noted that larger companies like Facebook have more resources to comply with regulations than small startups.
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9:56 a.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is back on Capitol Hill.
A house hearing examining the company’s privacy policies and the role Facebook played as Russians intervened in the 2016 election has begun. Zuckerberg testified for around five hours in a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
In that hearing, Zuckerberg apologized several times for Facebook failures and disclosed that his company was “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian election interference. He also said Facebook was working hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users’ private data by a data-mining company affiliated with Donald Trump’s campaign.
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12:18 a.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized several times for Facebook failures as he underwent some five hours of questioning by the Senate.
The 33-year-old founder of the world’s best-known social media giant is set for another Capitol Hill grilling on Wednesday before members of the House.
Lawmakers were at times aggressive Tuesday as they accused Zuckerberg of failing to protect the personal information of millions of Americans from Russians intent on upsetting the U.S. election.
Zuckerberg disclosed that his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian election interference. He says it’s working hard to change its own operations after the harvesting of users’ private data by a data-mining company affiliated with President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Facebook has been reeling from its worst-ever privacy failure.