Not 50 million; Facebook data breach has affected more

Facebook data breach had its users in a panic- particularly once the number of people affected was made known- 50 million.

But the recent data has revealed that the affected users are much more in-87 million users.

Personal information of about 87 million users, mostly in the US, may have been improperly shared with the UK-based political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has said as it announced a slew of measures to address its users’ privacy concerns. 

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Over half a million of the users whose personal data might have been compromised are from India. 

This is a much larger figure than the previously believed 50 million users of Facebook whose personal data was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. 

Facebook is facing a severe crisis of credibility ever since the news broke out that it improperly shared personal information of its users that was used for political purposes. 

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“In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the US — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” Mike Schroepfer, chief technology officer (CTO), Facebook, said yesterday as he updated users on the changes the social network is making to better protect their information. 

As per a table of compromised users, most of the personal information that may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica are from the US – 70.8 million or 81 per cent. Indonesia and the United Kingdom stand a distant second with 1.1 million users’ data being compromised. India ranks seventh wherein information of 562,455 of its users may have been compromised.