USA TODAY US Edition

Facebook reveals to Congress even more data-sharing deals

- Paul Davidson

Facebook shared user informatio­n with dozens of hardware and software makers, as well as applicatio­n developers, well after it said it cut off outside companies’ access to the data in 2015.

The setups were described in 747 pages of documents submitted to the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Friday in response to hundreds of questions lawmakers had asked company executives. The disclosure­s come amid widening scrutiny of how well Facebook protects personal informatio­n of the network’s users and their friends.

The social networking giant said it made the special arrangemen­ts so hardware and software makers could ensure Facebook worked on their devices and operating systems and applicatio­n developers had time to comply with the company’s stricter access policies.

All told, 52 hardware and software makers – including Apple, Blackberry, Amazon and Microsoft – had access to the data. But the list also includes Chinese firms such as Huawei and Alibaba, some of which generated national security concerns. Facebook said it has ended 38 of the 52 partnershi­ps. It said it will shut down an additional seven by the end of July and another one by the end of October. Among the handful that will continue beyond that are those with Amazon, Apple and Alibaba.

“We engaged companies to build integratio­ns for a variety of devices, operating systems and other products where we and our partners wanted to offer people a way to receive Facebook or Facebook experience­s,” the company said in the documents. “These integratio­ns were built by our partners, for our users, but approved by Facebook.”

The company said it forged the relationsh­ips before the spread of powerful iPhone and Android operating systems that have allowed consumers to easily access the web. Back then, people “went online using a wide variety of text-only phones, feature phones and early smartphone­s with varying capabiliti­es,” Facebook said.

Facebook also gave 61 app developers about six months beyond a May 2015 deadline to comply with more restrictiv­e access to Facebook’s computer programmin­g code. Those developers included companies such as AOL, Audi, Panasonic and Hinge, a dating app, which also had informatio­n on users’ friends, such as phone numbers.

The deals with developers and hardware and software makers were report- ed by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times early last month, but the new documents detail the number of companies involved and the extent of the setups.

Facebook has been under fire since it was revealed earlier this year that a political ad targeting firm, Cambridge Analytica, purchased data on up to 87 million users from Facebook without their consent. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress in April and apologized for not doing enough to protect user data.

The Federal Trade Commission is investigat­ing whether the company’s actions violated a 2011 consent decree barring it from making misreprese­ntations about the privacy or security of consumers’ personal informatio­n.

All told, 52 hardware and software makers – including Apple, Blackberry, Amazon and Microsoft – had access to the data.

 ??  ?? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress in April and apologized for not doing enough to protect user data.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress in April and apologized for not doing enough to protect user data.

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