The fallout surrounding Facebook’s recent admission that it handed over the personal data of over 50 million users escalated Tuesday; with founder Mark Zuckerberg agreeing to testify before Congressional investigators in the coming weeks.
The fierce backlash began earlier this month, when the social media giant admitted handing over sensitive material to Cambridge Analytica and other organizations throughout the 2016 campaign and beyond; prompting users to question how their private information is bought and sold on the internet.
At the heart of the matter is Facebook’s internal software that predicts whether you’re very liberal, very conservative, or anything in between. Here’s how to find out what Facebook thinks of you:
- Open account “Settings.”
- Select “Ads” on the left-hand column.
- Click “Your Information” and then “Your Categories.”
- It will then reveal if Facebook thinks your “very conservative,” “very liberal,” and everything in between.
Read the full story at Fox News.
FACEBOOK FAIL: Obama Campaign ‘SUCKED’ Private User Data During 2012 Election
As the controversy surrounding Facebook’s alleged cooperation with outside entities continues to swirl; new information shows former President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign mined the social network’s user data to help reach likely voters, reports Fox News.
Carol Davidsen, Obama’s former Director of Integration and Media Analytics, confirmed the campaign’s use of Facebook’s “social graphs” -illustrations that map users’ varying connections- on Twitter, saying “Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing.”
“They came to office in the days following election recruiting & were very candid that they allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side,” she added.
I worked on all of the data integration projects at OFA. This was the only one that felt creepy, even though we played by the rules, and didn’t do anything I felt was ugly, with the data.
— Carol Davidsen (@cld276) March 19, 2018
Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing.
— Carol Davidsen (@cld276) March 19, 2018
Davidsen’s admission comes as Facebook finds itself in hot-water over their policies permitting outside factors to impact the US electoral system.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department indicted 13 Russian nationals for exploiting Facebook in order to sway American voters.
COLLUSION: Trump Says Facebook and 'Fake News' Campaigned for Clinton
Federal investigators are probing whether Russian-backed organizations purchased nearly $50,000 worth of phony Facebook advertisements. According to sources close to the probe, the ads allegedly focused on issues relating to immigration and Clinton’s ongoing FBI investigation.