With Facebook admitting that personal data from more than 600,000 Canadians has been scraped from the site by “malicious actors,” the social media giant is helping people see if their profiles were compromised.
Facebook has launched a tool users can use to check if their information was shared by Cambridge Analytica using the app “This Is Your Digital Life.”
| Here’s an example of a Facebook user whose data was not accessed by Cambridge Analytica. (Facebook) |
In total, more than 87 million users worldwide were caught up in the data scandal when Cambridge Analytica allegedly used its data to influence the 2016 U.S. election.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that most of its 2.2 billion members have probably had their data used without their consent.
Zuckerberg was scheduled to testify in front of U.S. Congress Tuesday, and the company he founded in college is being investigated in the U.K. and by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
The Canadian privacy commissioner has already launched a probe into the unauthorized access and use of Facebook user profiles, while the B.C. commissioner is helping the U.K. in its investigation.
Both watchdogs are also investigating another firm, Victoria-based Aggregate IQ, to see if it and Facebook breached privacy laws.
The small tech firm is accused of helping to influence Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in 2016.
– with files from the Canadian Press
