The revelations surrounding Facebook seem to have no end!
This time, the social networking platform has been accused of granting special access to its users’ data to select companies. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook has reached agreements with certain companies, such as Royal Bank of Canada and Nissan Motors, known as “Whitelists.” These companies can access users’ mobile phone numbers and friends’ information.
Information related to friends is provided in the form of a metric called “friend link.” This metric calculates how close users are to their friends and other users in the network.
The companies with which the data was shared used it for advertising and other purposes. Facebook itself announced that the data had been shared with some companies. However, in reality, it was found that the number of these companies is larger than the number disclosed.
According to Facebook representatives, it provided access to data containing information about users' friends to a "small number" of companies with the incentive to improve user experience and test new features after it became illegal to share data with developers in 2015.
Facebook Vice President Ime Archibong said they have always had a “consistent and principles-based approach to how they work with developers over the past 11 years.” He also added that Facebook has, at times, worked “more closely” with some developers to test new features and introduce new products to the market.
It seems that Facebook's mistakes in handling data are gradually coming to light. This has further worsened the situation on the platform, which is facing criticism from lawmakers and users.
