Facebook to ban certain apps in response to Cambridge Analytica

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

Facebook is cracking down on third-party apps on its platform, announcing Thursday that it will no longer allow programs like the one that enabled political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to obtain the information of millions of users without their consent.

The company said in a blog post that it will no longer allow apps with “minimal utility,” like personality quizzes, and will no longer allow apps to “ask for data that doesn't enrich the in-app, user experience.”

The announcement comes five years after a researcher named Aleksandr Kogan built a Facebook app called thisisyourdigitallife, which collected data on users through a personality quiz and by vacuuming up information about the friends of the respondents. Kogan later sold the data — which included information on as many as 87 million users — to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked for President Trump’s 2016 campaign and several other Republican candidates.

The incident created an international firestorm, drawing scrutiny and a barrage of investigations from lawmakers and regulators over how Facebook handles user data and what kind of access it affords to third-party apps.



Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/440724-facebook-will-no-longer-allow-certain-apps-following-cambridge-analytica

[moreland01]

1. If someone like me, . .

who stuck with Facebook for the last 10 years despite all of the bad news, deleted his/her account, then there must be tons of people doing it. Is Facebook finally caring about losing customers? Good.

[ZZenith]

2. They're not losing customers, they are losing product.

You are their product.

Maybe if their supply runs short enough their actual customers will no longer pay.

Enterprises begun with nefarious intent rarely become beneficent.

[Raster]

4. I started on Farcebook the year they went public...

...I deleted my account approximately 9 months ago:

"I have DELETED my Farcebook* account. Fuck you #MarkZuckerberg. You are a liar and a traitor, who willingly allowed American's private Farcebook* information to be used by Mercer*s Cambridge Analytica* in their quest to aid the Russians* in SELECTING @realDonaldTrump as POTUS."

[kimbutgar]

3. I got disgusted with Facebook last April and while I didn't delete account I no longer post

I’ve talked to other people recently who have really cut back on Facebook. I no longer trust it and the fact that Russia was taking my information on me in the 2016 election was evil. I have turned everything private in my timeline. I’m sure it’s too late at this point though.

Between facebook and twitter I don’t understand why the companies can’t stop those bots by looking at where the dns address is from and block them. They should completely get rid of Facebook and twitter in Russia and its eastern bloc partners.

[FakeNoose]

6. They're still selling your name & contact info

You need to delete your account and all the info associated with it. Otherwise you're part of the product. Facebook has already harvested you, your data, your friends, and all of your friends' data.

[yaesu]

5. aren't they facing a fine of 5 billion for user data shenanigans? nt