Facebook affirms commitment to protect users’ information

Facebook will likely need “a few years” to fix the problems uncovered by the revelations on the hijacking of private user data, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview. © KAREN BLEIER / AFP

Social networking site Facebook assured on Friday that they were “committed” to protect its users’ information and that they were engaged with the National Privacy Commission (NPC).

This, after the NPC announced that it has launched an investigation into the social networking site over a data breach involving British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

According to Facebook, data of about 1.2 million Filipinos were among those “improperly shared” by Cambridge Analytica.

“We are strongly committed to protecting people’s information. We are engaged with the Philippine National Privacy Commission on this,” Facebook said in a statement.

The social networking site also assured that it has made “significant updates” to make its privacy tools easier to find, to restrict data access, and to make its terms and data policy “clearer.”

“We believe these changes will better protect people’s information – we know we have more work to do, and we’ll keep our community updated as we make more changes,” it said.

READ: NPC probes Facebook after Cambridge Analytica scandal

The NPC on Friday said it has sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg informing him that it would investigate “whether there is unauthorized processing of personal data of Filipinos, and other possible violations of the Data Privacy Act of 2012.”

“We write with concern as regards your admission that Facebook has been remiss in its duty to protect its users’ personal data. The identification of 1.18 million Filipinos who may have been affected by the Cambridge Analytica is alarming and may be a symptom of a deeper problem that could pose risks to Filipino Facebook users,” the letter read.

“As the Philippine data privacy authority, we are directing you to furnish this Commission with information relevant to the processing of Facebook data of affected Filipinos, and how personal data is generally shared with third parties using your platform,” it added.