Even as the Indian government has asked for a response from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica over data breach issue, the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm said yesterday that over 5.62 lakh Indian users information may have ended up with Cambridge Analytica. Notably, United States had the highest number of affected users, with over 70.63 million users affected.
“In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the US — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” Facebook said in a statement. The other major affected countries include users from Philippines, ( 1,175,870); Indonesia (1,096,666); United Kingdom (1,079031) and Mexico at 789,880 users. Canada, Vietnam and Australia too had affected users.
The Indian government has meanwhile asked Facebook to respond by April 7th. In a statement last month, the Indian government said that it has issued a notice to Cambridge Analytica, wherein the serious breach of propriety and misuse of data intended to profile and influence voting behaviour has been highlighted. Cambridge Analytica has reportedly asked for more time to respond to the Indian government.
Notably, the reported figure of 87 million is much higher than 50 million estimated earlier. The scandal has led to a strong backlash campaign against Facebook worldwide, with prominent figures such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk raising concerns over social media privacy policies. Meanwhile Facebook has reiterated that it is taking various steps to prevent such mishaps.
Earlier, a public apology from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, failed to reduce any pressure on the company. “Today, we want to update you on the changes we’re making to better protect your Facebook information. We expect to make more changes over the coming months — and will keep you updated on our progress,” Facebook said in its statement.
