The controversy surrounded by Facebook regarding reports that the data analysis firm, Cambridge Analytica allegedly obtained data from 50 million Facebook users to use for the Donald Trump's election campaign during the presidential elections held in 2016 penalised Facebook with $57 billion valuation drop in just three trading sessions. This lead the brokerages for the target-cut on the California-based tech firm, Facebook after several years where the stock has risen 550% in value in the past 5 years. Why Facebook has to carry these allegations? What is the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica controversy? Let's find the answers to these questions.
Kogan then shared the data to Cambridge Analytica, which was developing some techniques for Donald Trump election campaign that could influence the voters. These techniques were then used for the Trump's election campaign, which was similar to the one used by Narendra Modi during the 2014 General elections in India. It is also said that all these data sharing between Facebook to Kogan was done with some monetary considerations.
What data does Facebook collect from the users?
When you register for the Facebook account, you are required to provide the following:
The Facebook play starts here. It collects the following personal data shared by you:
The real fun is with the third-party apps on which we log in or register via Facebook. You click on continue without going through the Terms and Conditions and the apps will also collect data regarding the friend's network and personal preferences apart from the name, gender and location.
Facebook or these third-party apps then monetize the user data to the companies that make it super easy for them to target the audience or customers as they knew the user preferences.
They are few easy steps which you can do to prevent the third-party app from accessing the data.
On the Facebook home page, go to Facebook settings (not privacy), then visit “apps,” and now check the number of apps that are linked to your Facebook account. You can remove the apps from the list if you wish they must be blocked.
2016 story:
Aleksandr Kogan, the psychology professor at the University of Cambridge created an app - "thisisyourdigitallife", which offered personality test to the users who downloaded the app. The app users logged in to the app via Facebook and gave permissions to collect data about their location, their friends and content. The app had collected the data from 50 million users.Kogan then shared the data to Cambridge Analytica, which was developing some techniques for Donald Trump election campaign that could influence the voters. These techniques were then used for the Trump's election campaign, which was similar to the one used by Narendra Modi during the 2014 General elections in India. It is also said that all these data sharing between Facebook to Kogan was done with some monetary considerations.
Also read: Philips lighting announces the world's first LiFi technology that offers high-speed and bandwidth internet connectivity
What data does Facebook collect from the users?
When you register for the Facebook account, you are required to provide the following:
- Name
- Gender
- Date of birth
- Email/Mobile number
The Facebook play starts here. It collects the following personal data shared by you:
- Personal information about your schools, education, hometown, current city, your groups, likes and dislikes.
- Every IP address you use to login to Facebook
- Every friend in your network
- User activity: The ads you click, the videos and images you watch, your discussions in the groups, the pages you liked.
Also read: Here are the reasons why the Broadcom-Qualcomm deal was blocked by Trump
The real fun is with the third-party apps on which we log in or register via Facebook. You click on continue without going through the Terms and Conditions and the apps will also collect data regarding the friend's network and personal preferences apart from the name, gender and location.
Facebook or these third-party apps then monetize the user data to the companies that make it super easy for them to target the audience or customers as they knew the user preferences.
How to prevent the third-party apps from accessing your data?
They are few easy steps which you can do to prevent the third-party app from accessing the data.On the Facebook home page, go to Facebook settings (not privacy), then visit “apps,” and now check the number of apps that are linked to your Facebook account. You can remove the apps from the list if you wish they must be blocked.
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