Panicked Facebook users flood Twitter after finding THOUSANDS of spying apps have been using their data

Wednesday, March 21, 2018
By Paul Martin

Facebook lets you connect apps designed to plugin to the social network
These range from games and entertainment to fast-food and package delivery
Each time you connect an app you give it permission to record details about you
Facebook has been hit by allegations of mis-managing data it gathers from users
The firm reportedly sold data from 50 million users to Cambridge Analytica

By TIM COLLINS
DAILYMAIL.COM
21 March 2018

Facebook users are waking up to just how much private information they have handed over to third-party apps.

Users are sharing their shock on Twitter at discovering that thousands of software plugins for Facebook have been gathering their data.

Some of the better known apps that may be connected to your profile include those of popular sites like Amazon, Buzzfeed, Expedia, Etsy, Instagram, Spotify and Tinder.

It comes as the academic who developed the app that allowed under-fire firm Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from up to 50 million Facebook profiles said he had no idea his work would be used to help Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

Alexandr Kogan, a psychology researcher at Cambridge University, said both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have tried to place the blame on him for violating the social media platform’s terms of service.

‘My view is that I’m being basically used as a scapegoat,’ he said. ‘Honestly, we thought we were acting perfectly appropriately – we thought we were doing something that was really normal.’

He also revealed that tens of thousands of other apps may be mining social media for personal data to be sold on.

But he added: ‘I think what Cambridge Analytica has tried to sell is magic. It made claims that this data is incredibly accurate and it tells you everything there is to tell about you. But the reality is it’s not that. If you look at the data carefully those claims quickly fall apart’.

Many users are choosing to manually remove permissions previously granted to each individual app used with Facebook, a time consuming process.

It is unclear whether this will allow them to claw back data previously shared via third-parties.

The panic follows revelations that data gathered by a quiz app called This Is Your Digital Life, used by 270,000 Facebook users in 2015, was sold on to Cambridge Analytica after being created by Kogan.

Cambridge Analytica is currently embroiled in a privacy row amid accusations the information was used by the Trump campaign to influence the US presidential elections, as well as to boost the Brexit campaign in the UK.

The head of the firm, Alexander Nix, was suspended yesterday after Channel 4 News broadcast hidden camera footage of him suggesting the company could use young women to catch opposition politicians in compromising positions.

The Rest…HERE

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