Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to make Facebook a more secure platform after users were left outraged by the Cambridge Analytica scandal that unfolded this week.
The CEO finally broke his silence on the misuse of 51 million users’ data Wednesday evening, outlining three steps the firm plans to take to prevent something like this from happening again.
But, according to Zuckerberg, the ‘most important actions’ toward protecting users’ data against ‘abusive apps’ were already taken years ago.
The Facebook boss says the firm will conduct an investigation of apps that had greater access to information prior to the more recent limitations, which were rolled out in 2014.
Zuckerberg also promised tighter restrictions on what data developers can access, a tool to more prominently display the apps you’ve given permissions to, and bans for developers that don’t comply.
Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to make Facebook a more secure platform after users were left outraged by the Cambridge Analytica scandal that unfolded this week. The CEO finally broke his silence on the misuse of 51 million users’ data Wednesday evening. File photo
Mark Zuckerberg’s much-awaited comments on the Cambridge Analytica scandal came amid growing frustration over his silence, with hashtags such as #WheresZuck and #deleteFacebook exploding across social media in the last few days.
In addition to offering a timeline on the events leading up to the revelation of the massive data harvesting scandal by a firm linked to both Trump’s campaign and Brexit, Zuckerberg admitted Facebook has ‘made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.’
Facebook made certain changes to limit apps’ data access back in 2014, and was made aware of Cambridge Analytics’ abuse in 2015.
Now, the firm plans to go back and revisit apps that existed prior to these changes.
‘First, we will investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform to dramatically reduce data access in 2014, and we will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity,’ Zuckerberg said in the lengthy statement.
‘We will ban any developer from our platform that does not agree to a thorough audit. And if we find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them and tell everyone affected by those apps.
‘That includes people whose data Kogan [Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan] misused here as well.’
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook will also crack down even further on developers’ access to data.
The Facebook boss says the firm will conduct an investigation of apps that had greater access to information prior to the more recent limitations, which were rolled out in 2014. Zuckerberg also promised tighter restrictions on what data developers can access
Moving forward, apps will only be given access to your name, profile photo, and email address.
And, if you don’t use an app for three months, their access to your data will be revoked.
‘We’ll require developers to not only get approval but also sign a contract in order to ask anyone for access to their posts or other private data,’ Zuckerberg continued, noting the firm would have ‘more changes to share in the next few days.’
Facebook is also planning to make it much easier for users to view the apps they’ve already given permission to.
The firm will launch a tool in the next month to show which apps have access to your data. This will appear right at the top of the News Feed, and will provide an ‘easy way to revoke those apps’ permissions,’ according to the CEO.
Mark Zuckerberg’s much-awaited comments on the Cambridge Analytica scandal came amid growing frustration over his silence. WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who sold the app to Facebook for 19 billion dollars in 2014, was one of thousands who vowed to leave Facebook
‘We already have a tool to do this in your privacy settings, and now we will put this tool at the top of your News Feed to make sure everyone sees it,’ Zuckerberg said.
After remaining silent for what many social media users griped was far too long after the scandal was first revealed this past weekend, the Facebook boss now says the firm is working on ways to better protect those who use the platform.
Notably, he did not once apologize.
‘While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesn’t change what happened in the past,’ Zuckerberg said.
‘We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.’