Facebook suspends 400 apps, bans one in data use investigation

[steven36]

The myPersonality app failed to comply with an audit in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

 

Facebook has suspended 400 apps and banned one in its investigation into data sharing.

 

Facebook suspended 400 and banned one of the thousands of apps it's investigated since the Cambridge Analytica data sharing scandal began in March, the company said Thursday.

The company issued a full ban to myPersonality, one of the apps at the center of the scandal, on Wednesday after it didn't agree to a request for audit. The social media suspended the app back in April.

"It's clear that they shared information with researchers as well as companies with only limited protections in place," Facebook wrote in a blog post.

 

It'll notify the roughly four million people who used the Facebook personality app, which was mainly active before 2012.

 

The post also mentioned that it suspended 400 apps, which Bloomberg notes is double the number it mentioned in May "due to concerns around the developers who built them or how the information people chose to share with the app may have been used."

 

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

 

 

Facebook also faced scrutiny over one of its own apps on Apple's App Store Wednesday. The company removed its Onavo security app from the store after Apple reportedly determined that it violated privacy rules.

 

Data sharing controversy has swirled around Facebook for months, since a scandal kicked off  regarding data on up to 87 million people that was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a digital consultancy firm linked to the Trump presidential campaign.

 

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[steven36]

Facebook Pulls Its Data-Harvesting Onavo VPN From App Store After Apple Says It Violates Rules

 

 

Facebook has yanked its vampiric Onavo Protect service—which purports to be a privacy-enhancing Virtual Private Network (VPN) but is by all indications data-harvesting Facebook spyware—from Apple’s App Store. The Wall Street Journal reports that a source said Facebook was compelled to remove the app after Apple “ruled that the service violated its data-collection policies.”

 

VPNs work by encrypting users’ traffic and re-directing it through a private server to avoid third-party scrutiny, such as by an internet service provider. Good VPNs are run by companies that don’t spy on the traffic routed through those servers. But while Facebook bills Onavo as a way to “keep you and your data safe,” the app actually collects large amounts of data for the social media network’s own purposes. It is more or less spyware, and tens of millions of people have downloaded it.

 

Earlier this year, Apple updated its privacy guidelines to prohibit apps that collect data about “which other apps are installed on a user’s device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing”—something that seemed like a direct response to services like Onavo. Per the Journal’s report, that ended up being exactly the case:

 

Quote

 

Earlier this month, Apple officials informed Facebook that the app violated new rules outlined in June designed to limit data collection by app developers, the person familiar with the situation said. Apple informed Facebook that Onavo also violated a part of its developer agreement that prevents apps from using data in ways that go beyond what is directly relevant to the app or to provide advertising, the person added.

The two sides discussed the issue in meetings last week, at least one of which took place at Apple’s headquarters. On Thursday, Apple officials suggested that Facebook voluntarily take down the Onavo app and Facebook agreed, said the person, who described the discussions as cordial.

 

Removing Onavo from the App Store won’t automatically delete it from phones that have already installed it, but Facebook can no longer update it, the Journal added. The source told the paper Facebook has no plans to yank the app from Google’s Play Store.

 

Apple told the Journal in a statement that the decision was part of overall efforts to “protect user privacy and data throughout the Apple ecosystem,” though a Facebook spokesperson insisted Onavo was up front about what data was being collected and the decision was purely about respecting Apple’s rules. However, as CNBC noted, in the past Facebook has been coy about letting users know that they own the Israeli-based service. Other reports have indicated the app continues to collect data on users even when VPN functionality is turned off.

 

Facebook has insisted it does not harvest data through Onavo for advertising purposes or tie it to individual users’ social media accounts. But it did tell members of Congress in June that it uses Onavo data for internal analytics on what apps are popular and how people are using them—a tactic that lent data to its decision to buy encrypted chat service WhatsApp in 2015 for $22 billion.

 

This is the latest in a series of major user privacy worries for Facebook, which have included everything from the Cambridge Analytica scandal to data-sharing arrangements with device manufacturers. Yet the company has been under pressure to find new sources of revenue as user growth has capped out, which means harvesting even more user data. In recent months, Facebook has been reported to be preparing a creepy in-network dating service and seeking ways to get users to volunteer sensitive banking and credit card data.

 

Source

[dMog]

most people on social media will ignore this..or see it as something to put up with fr the addiction that has  a hold of them

 

[humble3d]

FACEBOOK has a heck of a challenge in the coming months...
 

[steven36]

1 hour ago, dMog said:

most people on social media will ignore this..or see it as something to put up with fr the addiction that has  a hold of them

 

Facebook has been losing users since before this even happen. Facebook is not the only site on the internet a lot of people use  Reddit now, witch will let you  use fake info and a throwaway email still. Great thing about Reddit, is it's like nsane is if i don't fell like being bothered  i can just go there not signed in and just read.  i was just a visitor a long time  before i join there and still most days i just read but log in if i have something to say .  I think platforms that alow you some privacy is a much better choice.

 

Facebook main  user base are between 25 and 34 years old.  i remember before there was a Facebook and i never been a fan of the Facebook generation. my kids are not that old but there all young adults now,  so really we have nothing in common i dont use it nether do my kids.

 

Facebook lost around 2.8 million U.S. users in 2017 and 2018 won’t be much better.

https://www.recode.net/2018/2/12/16998750/facebooks-teen-users-decline-instagram-snap-emarketer

 

They was not expecting this scandal witch caused them to lose like 3 more million EU users in 2018 so far.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/25/facebooks-north-american-daily-active-users-after-scandals.html

 

Facebook  is not finish losing value yet,  there stocks  is still crashing, it may be way up into 2019  no one really knows before they bottom out and it's a good time to invest again.

 

 Facebook Stock Has Further to Fall Before You Buy It on the Dip. Give Facebook stock a little more room to bottom out.

https://investorplace.com/2018/08/facebook-stock-further-buy-dip/

 

The obvious fear is that Facebook usage is hitting a ceiling. Given that its June 2018 DAU number was 20% of the world’s entire population, that fear makes some sense. Combine that with guidance from the Q2 call for higher spending on moderation and site safety, and the post-earnings sell-off makes some sense.

[mkc21]

man the problem isn't the faulty/unsecure apps. It's all the boomers connecting to the Internet