Facebook admits phone numbers may be used to target ads
SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Facebook on Thursday confirmed that advertisers were privy to phone numbers given by members of the social network for enhanced security.
A study by two US universities, first reported by news website Gizmodo, found that phone numbers given to Facebook for two-factor authentication were also used to target advertising.
Two-factor authentication is intended to enhance security by requiring a second step, such as entering codes sent via text messages, as well as passwords to get into accounts.
Phone numbers added to profiles, for security purposes, or for messaging were potential fodder for advertisers, according to the study.
"These findings hold despite all the relevant privacy controls on our test accounts being set to their most private settings," researchers said in the study, which looked at ways advertisers can get personally identifying information (PII) from Facebook or its WhatsApp and Messenger services.
Contact lists uploaded to Facebook platforms could be mined for personal information, meaning that people could unintentionally help advertisers target their friends.
"Most worrisome, we found that phone numbers uploaded as part of syncing contacts -- that were never owned by a user and never listed on their account - were in fact used to enable PII-based advertising," researchers said in the study.
The study supported concerns that Facebook uses "shadow" sources of data not given to the social network for the purpose of sharing to make money on advertising.
"We use the information people provide to offer a better, more personalized experience on Facebook, including ads," a spokeswoman said in response to an AFP inquiry about the study findings.
"We are clear about how we use the information we collect, including the contact information that people upload or add to their own accounts."
Facebook is grappling with the worst crisis in its history, vilified for not more zealously guarding the information that users share.
The Silicon Valley-based internet colossus faced intense global scrutiny over the mass harvesting of personal data by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy that worked for Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
The company has admitted up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked in the scandal.
Facebook says the company is "outraged" after being "deceived" over the misuse of data by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which improperly harvested information on 50 million users to influence the US presidential election.
A company statement appears to place the blame for the incident on the British-based firm linked to President Donald Trump, which according to Facebook violated terms of the social network by misusing data from an academic researcher.
"The entire company is outraged we were deceived. We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people's information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens," the statement says.
It adds that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and their teams "are working around the clock to get all the facts and take the appropriate action moving forward, because they understand the seriousness of this issue."
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was named personally in a Washington lawsuit Monday alleging he played a direct role in decisions that set the stage for the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.
The US capital's attorney general argues that Zuckerberg was closely involved in conceiving the framework that allowed the Britain-based consulting firm to harvest over 70 million US Facebook users data
A whistleblower revealed in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica went on to use that data for political purposes, including trying to rally support for Donald Trump.
"Zuckerberg is not just a figurehead at Facebook; he is personally involved in nearly every decision the company makes," Washington Attorney General Karl Racine wrote in the suit. — AFP
Facebook says that hackers "scraped" personal data of some half-billion users back in 2019 by taking advantage of a feature designed to help people easily find friends using contact lists.
A trove of information about more than 530 million Facebook users was shared over the weekend at a hacker forum, prompting the leading social network to explain what happened and call on people to be vigilant about privacy settings.
"It is important to understand that malicious actors obtained this data not through hacking our systems but by scraping it from our platform prior to September 2019," Facebook product management director Mike Clark says in a post. — AFP
Mark Zuckerberg meets privately with members of Congress on a political reconnaissance mission to Washington, where he rejected calls for him to break up the world's biggest social network.
Zuckerberg's visit with policymakers comes as Facebook faces a myriad of regulatory and legal questions surrounding issues like competition, digital privacy, censorship and transparency in political advertising.
A Facebook spokesman says discussions were focusing in part on future internet regulation. — AFP
US regulators formalize a record $5 billion fine on Facebook for privacy violations in a settlement requiring the world's biggest social network to "submit to new restrictions and a modified corporate structure."
The Federal Trade Commission says the penalty was the largest ever imposed on any company for violating consumers' privacy and one of the largest penalties ever assessed by the US government for any violation.
"Despite repeated promises to its billions of users worldwide that they could control how their personal information is shared, Facebook undermined consumers' choices," FTC Chairman Joe Simons says in a statement after the split decision by the agency, with two members saying the penalty was insufficient.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg says that a lack of action by US authorities on fake political content on the platform after the 2016 US election helped pave the way for a subsequent avalanche of online disinformation.
The CEO -- who has himself been widely criticised for a lackluster response to fake news -- also calls on governments to further regulate private data, political advertising and step up efforts to prevent state actors from interfering in US elections.
"As a private company we don't have the tools to make the Russian government stop... our government is the one that has the tools to apply pressure to Russia," he says during an on-stage interview at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado. — AFP
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