Source: Facebook Newsroom

Viet Nam is among top 10 countries in which information of Facebook users may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, according to Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer.

Cambridge Analytica, a UK-based data collection and analysis company, was reported on March 19 to have wrongly collected information and data from about 50 million Facebook users around the world.

Mike confirmed in his Wednesday post on Facebook Newsroom the total number of Facebook users affected by the case has reached 87 million. The case has stunned the world in general and damaged Facebook in particular in regards of its share price and reputation in recent weeks.

In Mike’s post, Viet Nam ranks ninth of the 10 countries in the list with more than 427,000 Facebook users that have unwillingly shared their personal data and information with Cambridge Analytica.

The top country is the US with more than 70.6 million users, followed by the Philippines (nearly 1.2 million), Indonesia and the UK (nearly 1.1 million each). Australia is the bottom one with around 311,000 users.

To improve the situation, Mike said Facebook will remove the authorisation of API apps, a software intermediary that lets two applications connect, from getting access to users’ personal data and information public in groups, pages, events, and call and text history.

In addition, Facebook on April 9 will “show people a link at the top of their news feed so they can see what apps they use – and the information they have shared with those apps,” Mike said.

“People will also be able to remove apps that they no longer want. As part of this process, we will also tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied claims alluding to his potential resignation as the head of Facebook amid the Cambridge Analytica case, but said that he takes full responsibility. — VNS