$37 billion of Facebook’s value was lost due to investigations instigated by politicians in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Authorities have been looking into data breaches of 50 million Facbook users. This data was obtained by enticing users to do a quiz online. Once users clicked on the app, the users' information and the information of their friends was attained. This data was then passed on to Cambridge Analytica, who worked on Trump's election campaign.
Users were not informed by Facebook about the possibility that their profile may have been retained by Cambridge Analytica. It has been claimed that some of the data could have been used to manipulate the elections in the US, and the recent referendum in the UK about whether the country should leave the European Union.
Cambridge Analytica has denied all accusations. There is pressure by US senators, however, on Marc Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, to testify to Congress about the data breach.
Facebook admitted it was at fault and encouraged people to update their privacy settings.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a response to this scandal, “I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.”
Sources: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43462423
https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/3/21/17148852/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-cambridge-analytica-breach
Photo credit: www.freepik.com
