You might recall the Facebook hearing after the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit. In light of that, Mark Zuckerberg promised Facebook would review all existing apps with access to large amounts of data to see if there was any “suspicious activity”.
Well, Facebook just announced they have suspended over 200 apps after investigation of their usage.
In an update on the topic, VP of Product Partnerships Ime Archibong states “the investigation is in full swing” and that they have “large teams of internal and external experts working hard to investigate these apps as quickly as possible. To date thousands of apps have been investigated and around 200 have been suspended — pending a thorough investigation into whether they did in fact misuse any data.” The thorough investigation will consist of interviews, requests for information and performing audits that may include on-site inspections. It’s clear Facebook is trying to show a zero-tolerance approach after the Cambridge Analytica breach.
Even though Facebook is trying to look transparent, it’s not clear how many apps will be investigated in what period of time. Techcrunch also reports it’s unclear what benchmark is used to define a “large amount of data”, after receiving no answer from Facebook on the question.
Archibong does state that “there is a lot more work to be done” and that Facebook will keep you updated on any progress. There’s that.
