Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged Wednesday that his company failed to protect user data in the widening Cambridge Analytica controversy, but said steps already taken and newly unveiled policies would prevent developers from misappropriating such information in the future.
Zuckerberg said in a statement posted on his Facebook page that the company had already taken the "most important steps" in 2014 to prevent "bad actors" from accessing users' information in this way. He also outlined three additional steps Facebook would take:
The company will investigate all apps that had access to "large amounts of information" prior to Facebook's platform change in 2014. Facebook will also "conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity," he wrote.
Facebook said it will restrict developers' data access "even further," such as removing access to user data if that user hasn't used the outside app in three months
Facebook will put a tool at the top of the News Feed showing apps that accounts have used and "an easy way" to revoke those apps' permissions to data.
"I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I'm responsible for what happens on our platform," he said in the statement. "We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can't then we don't deserve to serve you."
Zuckerberg had been roundly criticized for his silence in the days since the Cambridge Analytica data misappropriation scandal erupted.
Over the weekend, the New York Times and British newspaper the Observer reported that the data analytics firm, which had ties to President Trump's campaign, collected data from approximately 50 million Facebook accounts without users' knowledge in an attempt to sway voters' opinions.
Facebook has said the incident was a violation of the company's policies, but did not constitute a data breach. On Friday, the Menlo Park, Calif., company said it had suspended Cambridge Analytica for violating Facebook guidelines.
The blowback has been swift. Facebook's stock has dropped 7.1 percent since Friday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reportedly launched a probe, attorneys general from New York and Massachusetts have called for other investigations and lawmakers have demanded that Zuckerberg testify in front of Congress.
But while lower-ranking Facebook executives, including the company's chief security officer, spoke out about the incident, Zuckerberg and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg remained silent until Wednesday.
