Facebook, Inc. Common Stock (NASDAQ:FB) has come out and explained why it needs people’s personal information. In a blog post, Rob Goldman the company’s Vice president in charge of ads said that Facebook uses users’ location, age, interest and other details so as to understand what the users like so as to cater for ads in a manner that is more relevant to every user.
In most cases, Facebook uses the Facebook Pixel tool to get more information about its users. This tool can also be built into websites. For instance, a retailer can direct the toll to only display ads to people who search for a specific type of cloth or shoe.
Goldman defended the company saying that users are not the product and added that Facebook does not sell users’ private information.
This update comes in the wake of the data leak scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica is accused of inappropriately accessing private data of millions of Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica, which was the company behind Donald Trump’s campaign, got access to private information belonging to 50 million Facebook users without permission from Facebook.
Facebook says that although it has since suspended Cambridge Analytica from its services, the social media company should not be blamed for the leak. Facebook urges that its technology did not fault but worked exactly the way it was meant to. Facebook says that actors that have ill-motives like Cambridge Analytica went against its terms of services.
The social media giant has since repealed its terms of services so as to reduce cases of information leak to third parties. In a nut shell, Facebook admitted that its earlier terms presented loopholes that could lead to leakage of users’ private data.
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In a lengthy tweet, Alex Stamos, the chief security officer at Facebook defended the company saying that it was not to blame and that it had all it takes to protect uses’ information. He later deleted the tweet however.
Facebook offers several technological tools to software developers and one of them is the Facebook Login. This allows people to log into a websites using their Facebook details. This saves users from having to remember several login details. However, this method has been accused by many as a loophole through which third parties access user’s information.