So months after US Congress grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, we learn more. And it’s not good. Did Facebook give Apple data?
So a NYT article reported over time, Facebook give Apple, Samung, and other smartphone makers access to users’ data. This is a problem because in 2011, them and other IT service companies made a deal with the FTC. But they may have broken it. Furthermore, the report says they gave over 60 smartphone makers access, such as ‘like’ buttons. They did this because they could skip going through the app process. So this pretty much means they gave most companies in the world this kind of access. But wait…there’s more.
A New York Times reporter said one smartphone company got private info from over 500 of his Facebook friends. This included everything from their party plans to their religious beliefs. It included political beliefs as well. That’s huge because look at today’s turbulent political climate. I myself lost a few Facebook friends because I didn’t have the exact same social and political beliefs they did. So that’s huge. But the reporter added they had unique identifiers on over 290,000 of his friends. However, Facebook leaders insists they created these API’s? so they could have Facebook on their operating systems.
So did Facebook give Apple data? And not just Apple, but Samsung, Blackberry, HTC, and dozens of others. I don’t know. All I can do in this case is report on the facts, then draw conclusions. For their sake, I hope Facebook didn’t do this, at least not in this way. Because if they did, then this would go against Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress. Back then, he said, “Every piece of content you share on Facebook is your own”. Also, we should not that Facebook itself started phasing out this program in April 2018, a month after this statement. Now, it’s time for the smartphone companies and IT support companies to do the same. What do you think?