Facebook questioned for pulling user data
SAN FRANCISCO - On the same day Facebook bought ads in US and British newspapers to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the social media site faced new questions about collecting phone numbers and text messages from Android devices.
The website Ars Technica reported that users who checked data gathered by Facebook on them found that it had years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and text messages.
Facebook said on Sunday the information is uploaded to secure servers and comes only from Android users who optin to allow it. Spokeswomen said the data is not sold or shared with users' friends or outside apps. They say the data is used "to improve people's experience across Facebook" by helping to connect with others.
The company also said in a website posting that it does not collect the content of text messages or calls. A spokeswoman said that Facebook uses the information to rank contacts in Messenger so they are easier to find, and to suggest people to call.
The data collection can be turned off in a user's settings, and all previously collected call and text history shared on the app will be deleted, Facebook said.
Reports of the data collection came as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took out ads in multiple US and British Sunday newspapers to apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook's privacy practices have come under fire after Cambridge Analytica, a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm, got data inappropriately. The social media platform's stock value has dropped over $70 billion since the revelations were first published.
Modi's app
Meanwhile, allegations that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official mobile application was sending personal user data to a third party without their consent caused a furor on social media in India and drew criticism from the leader of the main opposition party on Sunday.
Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said the data was being used only for analytics to offer all users the "most contextual content".
Prime Minister Modi has not commented on the issue.
Ap - Reuters
(China Daily 03/27/2018 page12)
