3 million in Pa. part of Facebook privacy breach
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The personal information of nearly 3 million Facebook users in Pennsylvania has been shared with Cambridge Analytica and other third parties, according to the state attorney general’s office.
Facebook has come under intense scrutiny since it was discovered that the data firm, which had connections to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election campaign, had improperly harvested the information of up to 87 million of its users worldwide.
Of those, Facebook estimates it shared a total of 70.4 million American users’ data with third-party developers.
On Thursday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said a total of 2,960,311 Pennsylvanians’ Facebook data was shared, according to information supplied from the social media company.
Facebook provided the estimate in response to a bipartisan letter sent to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in March that was signed by 41 attorneys general “demanding information on the company’s business practices and privacy protections,” Mr. Shapiro’s office said Thursday.
“Nearly a quarter of the Commonwealth’s residents — 22 percent — had their personal data compromised by Facebook’s privacy breach,” Mr. Shapiro said in a statement.
“Businesses like Facebook must take significant steps to better protect their users’ privacy and personal data.”
Mr. Shapiro’s office said the investigation is ongoing and the total number of Facebook users who were affected may increase.
Facebook has since said it has tightened its privacy restrictions, and Mr. Zuckerberg testified before Congress for the first time in two days of hearings.
Facebook suspended Cambridge Analytica and other companies for using similar tactics. One is Cubeyou, which makes personality quizzes. That company has said it did nothing wrong and is seeking reinstatement.
On Wednesday, Cambridge Analytica declared bankruptcy and announced it was shutting down.
The London firm blamed “unfairly negative media coverage” and said it has been “vilified” for actions it says are both legal and widely accepted as part of online advertising.
Cambridge Analytica said it has filed papers to begin insolvency proceedings in the U.K. and will seek bankruptcy protection in a federal court in New York.
“The siege of media coverage has driven away virtually all of the company’s customers and suppliers,” Cambridge Analytica said in a statement. “As a result, it has been determined that it is no longer viable to continue operating the business.”