Facebook is full of controversies and governments and users have criticized it several times in the past for a wide variety of concerns, including Facebook privacy issues.
Now, the company has to deal with a fresh controversy. This is regarding claims that Facebook has access to personal data coming from third-party apps.
This comes after Mark Zuckerberg met with Jeremy Wright, the culture secretary. This meeting took place amid speculations that the government might soon release a white paper. This white paper could potentially lead to the development of independent regulators of social media.
However, there are reports stating that there have been some disagreements on how the funding for regulators should work.
Proposal Concerns
The Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports (DCMS) has raised concerns over a proposal that seeks to impose a levy on social media companies. This is because they want to attract tech investments and such a proposal could discourage potential investors. Others also believe that the levy must be imposed to a wider range of technology firms, including Amazon.
In a Wall Street Journal investigation concerning the Facebook privacy issues, they found that Facebook receives information from several apps. This includes users that don’t even have an account on Facebook. They tested more than 70 apps. In the end, they discovered that at least 11 of these apps send sensitive information to the social media company.
What is this Period App?
One of these apps is the Flo Period & Ovulation Tracker that, according to experts, shares information with Facebook when a particular user is having her period. Or if they are trying to get pregnant. However, Facebook claims that they require the apps to inform the users that are affected by this.
Also, they don’t want the developers of these apps to share sensitive data. This prompted Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, to request an immediate investigation on the matter. He believes that this is a clear violation of consumer privacy law.
What is Happening in the UK?
UK’s DCMS committee has called for tougher privacy laws in light of these recent Facebook privacy scandals. They have requested a meeting with Zuckerberg but the Facebook CEO has rejected this request. However, he met up with Jeremy Wright last week to discuss the privacy issues concerning online content.
The UK government wants to protect its citizens from the dangers concerning Facebook privacy issues. It also wants to create structures that don’t rely on self-regulation. However, Ian Lucas, the Labour MP, is critical of such a meeting. He himself would like to personally meet with Zuckerberg. This is to discuss certain issues and ask a lot of questions.
Many criticize Facebook over the way it handles user privacy. In fact, Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm, was revealed last year that it had access to the data of 87 million Facebook users without their consent.
Meanwhile, documents that were recently posted online have raised further concerns on this issue. The report features 60 pages of unedited exhibits resulting from a lawsuit that the app developer Six4Three filed against Facebook.
Another document shows an email sent by Michael Vernal, who used to be the VP of Facebook. In this email, he discussed some issues with a third-party app that could confirm Facebook’s privacy law violations.
Conclusion
This VPN will hide all your details from Facebook. So, you won’t have to worry about revealing your personal data even when using third-party apps.
If you are a Facebook user, would you still be confident about logging into your Facebook account after all these Facebook privacy issues? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below!
