Facebook’s data scandal growing

NEW YORK — Facebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the data it allows outsiders to access on its users.

Those developments came as congressional officials said CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify next week, while Facebook unveiled a new privacy policy that aims to explain the data it gathers on users more clearly — but doesn’t change what it collects and shares.

Facebook is facing its worst privacy scandal in years after allegations that a Trump-affiliated data mining firm, Cambridge Analytica, used ill-gotten data from millions of users to try to influence elections. The company said Wednesday that as many as 87 million people might have had their data accessed.

On Monday, Facebook users will receive a notice on their feeds with a link to see what apps they use and what information they have shared with those apps. They’ll have a chance to delete apps they no longer want. Users who might have had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica will be told of that. Facebook says most of the affected users are in the United States.

With outsiders’ access to data under scrunity, Facebook outlined several changes to further tighten its policies.

Facebook is restricting access that apps can get about users’ events, as well as information about groups such as member lists and content. The company also is removing the option to search for users by entering a phone number or an email address. Facebook said malicious actors abused it by collecting people’s profile data through phone or email lists.