Facebook: the profiles ceded to Cambridge Analytica are 87 million

Now it's serious. After the announcements of the last days, Facebook is called to test the facts. And with the publication of two official press releases within a few hours, important details about the history of Cambridge Analytica arrive and important news about the measures for the processing of personal data. 

First of all the datagate. From Menlo Park, they know that the data ended up in the hands of the London-based company that followed Donal Trump's election campaign involve as many as 87 million users, and not 50 million as previously reported.

?In total - they write from Facebook - we believe that the information of up to 87 million people, mostly in the United States, may have been shared improperly with Cambridge Analytica?. An important detail that aims in the direction of transparency, the only weapon in the hands of Zuckerberg to regain the trust of users. In addition, the company admits that data from most of its two billion users may have been misused due to the ability to search by phone number or e-mail address.

New protection measures

To restart, Facebook focuses on a substantial update of the processing of personal data. An update that concerns the entire Facebook ecosystem, and therefore also Messenger, Instagram, Whatsapp and Oculus viewers, which will now all have the same data law. "The experience of using these tools will not change," say the vice-presidents of Facebook, Erin Egan, and Ashlie Beringer. But they reiterate how "it is important to show people how our products work so that they can make informed decisions about their privacy. We want to explain, in a simpler language, the services we offer. We want to explain how we use the data and why it is an operation necessary to personalize the posts and advertisements that everyone sees, as well as for the Groups, Friends and Suggested Pages."

Two billion users at risk 

Among the new measures provided by Facebook to better protect user data, there is also a detail that confirms how the data of 2 billion users have been exposed, up to now, to breaches of privacy. 

The Menlo Park company said it had removed a feature that allowed users to enter phone numbers or email addresses in the Facebook search tool to find other people.

The most important information that users will have at their disposal also concern two important topics such as advertising and the information that Facebook collects from users' devices. Users will also be called to express themselves. "For the next seven days - still explain Egan and Beringer - people will be able to provide their feedback on the Terms of Use and the Regulation on data. Once finalized, we will publish these documents and ask people to give their consent on Facebook, along with information on the choices available to users about their privacy".

The nine main changes

In a statement, signed by the CTO of Facebook Mike Schroepfer, the plan envisioned to limit access to data is described in detail. A plan consisting of nine key changes. Four of these will concern the APIs (application programming interface, the set of procedures with which programmers can dialogue with a software), with changes that will affect the areas Events, Groups, and Pages, but also Instagram. In all these cases, the restriction on data sharing will be important. An example: in the Events area, up to now people could grant permission to other Apps to obtain information on events in which they participate, including private events. This made it easy to add Facebook events to the calendar, tickets or other apps. But Facebook Events also contains information on the participation of other people, as well as posts on the bulletin board of the event. "And therefore - writes Schroepfer - it is important to ensure that apps use their access appropriately. Starting today, applications that use the APIs will no longer be able to access the guest list or messages on the event bulletin board. And in the future, only applications that we approve and that accept strict requirements will be able to use API Events ".

An important innovation will concern the infamous Social Login, thanks to which many third-party apps come into possession of many data contained on Facebook. Schroepfer explained that things will change radically, that data sharing will be reduced to the bone and that the possibility will be removed for a developer to request users to share data if they do not use the app for three months.

Interventions will also be made to use the phone number and the notorious tracking of phone calls. Starting April 9, Facebook will show its users a link at the top of their News Feed so they can see what apps they use - and the information they shared with those applications. Users will also be able to remove applications that they no longer want.