Facebook informs 4 million users about possible data leaked via app

Facebook has announced that it will inform approximately four million users of the myPersonality app that their data may have been leaked. Earlier it turned out that this data was accessible through an unsecured site.

In an announcement, the company writes that it has now blocked the app. This would have been in use mainly before 2012. Facebook writes: “Today we removed myPersonality from Facebook, an app that was mainly active before 2012, because [de mensen achter de app] declined our request for an audit and because it is clear that they were sharing information with researchers and companies while there was only limited security in place.” There would be no evidence that the friends of the app’s four million users were affected by the incident, preventing Facebook from approaching these people.

In May, it was revealed that the information users had shared with myPersonality, including information about their mental health, had been shared by researchers at the University of Cambridge with hundreds of colleagues. This happened via a website whose login details were made available to students, among other things. The data included information such as age, gender, location, and status updates associated with a unique identifier. Users of the app could give permission to share their anonymous data for research.

Facebook also reports that it has now removed 400 apps as part of an investigation that started in March. He would now look more closely. The investigation into apps that process Facebook users’ information is one of the consequences of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.