- Facebook allowed cell phone makers deep user data access, says report Sunday
- Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Samsung were given access
- The data of users’ friends was reportedly shared even if they had opted out
- Apparently contradicts what Facebook vowed after Cambridge Analytica fiasco
- Facebook defends deals as consistent with policy and say no abuse occurred
Facebook gave at least 60 device makers broad access to its users’ information, potentially in conflict with what the company told Congress, a new report has revealed.
Many of the partnerships, with companies such as Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung, remain in effect even after Facebook began to quietly unwind them in April, according to a lengthy report in the New York Times.
Under some of the agreements, device makers could access the data of users’ friends, even if they believed that they had barred sharing, the Times reported citing company officials.
Facing blowback from the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal in March, Facebook vowed that it had put an end to that kind of information sharing, but never revealed that device makers had a special exemption.
Facebook co-founder, Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a combined Senate Judiciary and Commerce committee hearing in April
The company has defended the data sharing agreements, saying they are consistent with Facebook’s privacy policy, and that they are not aware of any user data being misused by device makers.
Facebook officials said they view device makers as extensions of the company in delivering their product to users, and said that user data was only used by the hardware companies to provide improved user experience.
However, the deals raise questions about Facebook’s compliance with a 2011 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission, in which the company said it would no longer share the data of users’ friends with third parties without their permission.
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