Facebook: Most users may have had public data ‘scraped’

NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook’s acknowledgement that most of its 2.2 billion members have probably had their personal data scraped by “malicious actors” is the latest example of the social network’s failure to protect its users’ data.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters Wednesday that Facebook is shutting down the ability to search for Facebook users by phone number or email address.

It turns out unscrupulous types figured out that they could use the search feature to collect information from people’s profiles.

Zuckerberg said that most Facebook users have probably had their information stolen this way.

It was a stunning admission for a company already reeling from allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica misappropriated Facebook user information for political purposes.