Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps from hundreds of developers

Facebook announced it has suspended tens of thousands of apps as a result of a review of privacy practices launched following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In April 2018, Facebook revealed that 87 million users have been affected by the Cambridge Analytica case, much more than 50 million users initially thought. The company allowed to access to the personal data of around 87 million Facebook users without their explicit consent.

After the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal in 2018, the social network giant launched a review of privacy practices. Facebook’s review of all apps on the platform aimed at determining alleged abuse of user data and violation of its privacy rules.

Now Facebook announced that the suspensions of tens of thousands of apps.

According to vice president of partnerships Ime Archibong, the suspensions are “not necessarily an indication that these apps were posing a threat to people.” Archibong also added that some “did not respond to our request for information.”

Archibong revealed that the review “has addressed millions of apps. Of those, tens of thousands have been suspended for a variety of reasons while we continue to investigate.” In some case Facebook completely banned the apps.

In July, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a record $5 billion settlement with Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Archibong explained that development teams behind the apps have to annually certify compliance with Facebook policies.

“Any developer that doesn’t go along with these requirements will be held accountable.” concluded Archibong.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – social network, privacy)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.