Facebook reportedly allowed Russian company access to user data beyond stop date
- CNN reports that a Russian company with Kremlin ties was allowed to collect data from Facebook users past May 2015.
- Facebook told CNN that it is looking into Mail.Ru as part of its investigation into the handling of user data following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
- The company says that so far it hasn't found any evidence that Mail.Ru misused its user data.
Facebook granted a Russian company with ties to the Kremlin a data collection extension, CNN reported Tuesday.
CNN reported the extension allowed Mail.Ru Group to access friend data from Facebook users past the cut-off date.
According to CNN, Facebook said Mail.Ru developed "hundreds of Facebook apps," only two of which were granted a two-week extension. The company told CNN that it is looking into these apps as part of its investigation of user data misuse in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
“Facebook is a global company with users all over the world so we work with developers globally to bring our services to people everywhere — as long as those developers adhere to our platform policies," Facebook vice president of product partnerships told CNBC in a statement. "Mail.ru, one of the top five largest internet companies in the world, has built apps for the Facebook platform and for other major platforms, including iOS and Android for years. We've found no indication of misuse with Mail.ru and CNN's claims are purely speculative. If we find misuse, we ban the developers.”
None of Mail.Ru's apps were allowed access to friends' data past May 2015, according to a Facebook spokesperson.
Cambridge Analytica was accused of improperly gaining access to sensitive user information of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was dragged before Congress and drilled with questions about the social media network's relationship with third-party developers on its platform.