The Latest: Facebook suspends another app in privacy scandal
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on Facebook’s privacy scandal (all times local):
10:50 a.m.
Facebook has suspended another app firm that may have misused data, adding to a growing list of firms being investigated by the social media company.
Facebook says CubeYou, a firm associated with the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, will be suspended after CNBC notified Facebook that CubeYou was collecting information about users through quizzes.
According to CNBC, CubeYou labeled its quizzes “for non-profit academic research” then shared user information with marketers. CNBC says CubeYou denies misusing data.
On Saturday, Facebook said it suspended AggregateIQ, a Canadian political consulting firm, amid media reports it had ties to Cambridge Analytica, a British data mining company accused of obtaining data from up to 87 million Facebook users to sway elections. Cambridge Analytica got its data through an app built by a University of Cambridge psychology researcher, Aleksandr Kogan.
The suspension comes as Facebook prepares to notify users Monday about whether their data had been accessed by Cambridge Analytica.
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10:15 a.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is establishing an independent election research commission that will look into the effects of social media on elections and democracy.
The move comes as the social media service grapples with a government report that Russia tried to meddle with the U.S. elections in part by using Facebook. Facebook is also facing one of its worst privacy scandals in its 14-year history after it was revealed a data firm Cambridge Analytica misused data from up to 87 million users. Zuckerberg is preparing to testify before Congress beginning on Tuesday.
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said the commission will work with foundations across the U.S. to set up a committee of academic experts who will come up with research topics and select independent researchers to study them.
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6:30 a.m.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is shutting down his Facebook account as the social media giant struggles to cope with the worst privacy crisis in its history.
In an email to USA Today, Wozniak says Facebook makes a lot of advertising money from personal details provided by users. He says the “profits are all based on the user’s info, but the users get none of the profits back.”
Wozniak says he’d rather pay for Facebook. He says “Apple makes money off of good products, not off of you.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday about the company’s ongoing data-privacy scandal and how it failed to guard against other abuses of its service.
Facebook has announced technical changes intended to address privacy issues.
