Facebook Data Breach: How A Data Firm CEO's Bragging Led To A Chain Of Crises

Recently when UK's Channel 4 recorded Cambridge Analytica's CEO Alexander Nix, in a secret tape, boasting about the company's role in Donald Trump's victory in 2016 elections, the top executive didn't have an inkling that the pretentious outburst will trigger a chain of events, even drawing rap from the federal government across the globe, and would set off a debate over data breach, allegedly orchestrated by Facebook. Besides Mr Nix, another person who has allegedly been made a "scapegoat" is psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, an academic at Cambridge University, who ran a survey app on Facebook.

What Mr Kogan did was, in fact, quite interesting. He ran a survey app and only 3,00,000 Facebook users responded to the quiz. But actually, he managed to get access to those people's fFacebook friends as well. Critics say that it was indeed a breach because the data of unsuspecting friends was taken while those friends did not agree to share information. However, Kogan managed to lay his hands on the details of 50 million users. Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have blamed Mr Kogan for data misuse.

Facebook has said it that it made the changes that prevent people from sharing data about friends and maintains that no data breach occurred because the original users gave permission. Critics say that it essentially was a breach because data of unsuspecting friends was taken.

What is the Facebook data breach controversy? According to Christopher Wylie, a whistle-blower, Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to build profiles on 5,00,000 American voters that were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

What Is Facebook's stand? Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized on Wednesday for mistakes his company made in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users and promised tougher steps to restrict developers' access to such information. "This was a major breach of trust. I'm really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people's data," Zuckerberg said in an interview with CNN.

(Also Read: 'Delete' Facebook, Says WhatsApp Co-Founder Brian Acton)

Governments' stand worldwide: Facebook is facing government scrutiny in India, Europe and the US about the allegations that Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to help elect Mr Trump in 2016. India's IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections," The German government said that Facebook must explain whether the personal data of the country's 30 million users was protected from unlawful use by third parties, according to a report in the Funke group of German regional newspapers. The whistle-blower who revealed the scandal, Christopher Wylie, formerly of Cambridge Analytica, said on Twitter that he had accepted invitations to testify before US and UK lawmakers, reported Reuters.

(Also Read: Facebook In Tight Spot After Alleged Data Breach: 5 Things To Know)

Facebook in Wall Street: The company has lost more than $45 billion of its stock market value over the past three days on investor fears that any failure by big tech firms to protect personal data could deter advertisers and users and invite tougher regulation. Facebook shares pared gains on Wednesday after Mr Zuckerberg's post, closing up 0.7 per cent, Reuters reported.