Facebook has updated its estimate on the number of users affected by the leak of data to Cambridge Analytica. The new estimate is 74% bigger than the prior one.
Facebook had more bad news for users on the privacy front on Wednesday.
"Most" of its users may have had their personal data skimmed from the site by "malicious actors," the company said in a blog post by Mike Schroepfer, its chief technology office. Meanwhile, up to 87 million users may have been affected by the leak of personal information to Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica a number that was much bigger than previous estimates.
Shroepfer shared the new information about privacy compromises amid giving details about changes the company has made to its service, to better protect users' personal data.
"We believe these changes will better protect people’s information while still enabling developers to create useful experiences," he said in the post. "We know we have more work to do and we’ll keep you updated as we make more changes"
Facebook has been reeling since a whistleblower disclosed that Cambridge Analytica, which assisted President Trump's election campaign, gleaned data on million of Facebook users through an app written by a university researcher. Only 270,000 Facebook users actually installed the app, but due to Facebook's data sharing policies at the time, the app was able to gather data on millions of their friends.
The initial estimates were that the app gathered data on some 50 million people. But Schroepfer revised that number upward by 74%. Facebook will be rolling out a new feature on Monday that will inform users who were affected by the data leak.
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