Skip to content
PromoVeritas
PromoVeritas
Contact Us
PromoVeritas
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do and Why
  • Our Work
  • News
  • Join the Team
  • Contact

Facebook investigated by the ICO and US Congress for huge data breach

PromoVeritas March 22, 2018

Mark Zuckerberg has issued a statement addressing the platform’s biggest ever data breach, a crisis that has sent Facebook shares plummeting and triggered investigations by the US Congress and the UK’s Information Commissioner.

The personal information of over 50million individuals was improperly used by data analytics experts Cambridge Analytica to build a system that could profile voters and target them with political messages during the US elections. In a post today Zuckerberg acknowledges that Facebook made mistakes and promised to act to fix the problem. He admitted “we have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t do that we don’t deserve to serve you.

The Information Commissioner’s Office is currently applying for a warrant to allow them access to Cambridge Analytica’s servers and has ordered Facebook’s own auditors to stand down from their investigations. Elizabeth Dehham, the Information Commissioner told Channel 4 news “…we need to look at databases, we need to look at servers, and understand how data was processed or deleted by Cambridge Analytica. There are a lot of conflicting stories about the data.”

Alexsandr Kogan created an app called ‘thisisyourdigitallife’ which gathered user’s data using psychological tests. This data was allegedly passed on to Cambridge Analytica who developed their data mining software with it. Christopher Wylie, a whistle-blower for the company, regretfully told the Observer how “…we exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons.”

Meanwhile, Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web took to Twitter today to offer Zuckerberg some sound advice “I can imagine Mark Zuckerberg is devastated that his invention has been abused and misused…I would say to him: You can fix it. It won’t be easy but if companies work with governments, activists, academics and web users we can make sure platforms serve humanity.”

He also offers this wisdom to everyone – and with the shadow of GDPR looming it is very sage; “General rules for us all: Any data about me, wherever it is, is mine and mine alone to control. If you are given that data for one purpose, use it for that purpose alone.”

With that thought in mind find out what more you could be doing to get ready for GDPR at our free Be in the know: GDPR for Marketers Breakfast Briefing on 25th April 2018 at Langan’s Brasserie, London W1. To reserve a place or to find out more about our GDPR services contact info@promoveritas.com or call +44 203 325 6000.

Photo credit: JD Lasica 
« GDPR UPDATE: Do you need to pay the ICO’s new Data Protection charges? How to run a successful competition – our breakfast briefing »

Call us on 0203 325 6000 to find out how we can help your promotion

+44 (0)203 325 6000
info@promoveritas.com
  • Home
  • About Us
  • What We Do and Why
  • Our Work
  • News
  • Join the Team
  • Contact
Proud members of ISO-27001 Accredited Proud members of
Run it Right.
© 2023 PromoVeritas
Privacy Policy Terms of Service Website Terms & Conditions Cookies Policy
We use cookies on our website. All the cookies we use can be viewed using the Cookie Settings button. By clicking “ACCEPT” you consent to the use of all cookies. You cannot disable our essential cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Read More
ACCEPTCookie settings
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Essential
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

CookieTypeDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary011 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-non-necessary011 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Non Necessary".
viewed_cookie_policy011 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Non Essential

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

CookieTypeDurationDescription
_ga01 yearThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, camapign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assigns a randoly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-15728851-301 minuteThis is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to. It appears to be a variation of the _gat cookie which is used to limit the amount of data recorded by Google on high traffic volume websites.
_gid01 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
bcookie01 yearThis cookie is set by linkedIn. The purpose of the cookie is to enable LinkedIn functionalities on the page.
bscookie11 year
csrftoken011 monthsThis cookie is associated with Django web development platform for python. Used to help protect the website against Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks
GPS030 minutesThis cookie is set by Youtube and registers a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location
IDE11 yearUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
ig_did11 year
ig_nrcb01 year
lang0This cookie is used to store the language preferences of a user to serve up content in that stored language the next time user visit the website.
li_sugr02 months
lidc01 dayThis cookie is set by LinkedIn and used for routing.
lissc01 year
mid01 yearThe cookie is set by Instagram. The cookie is used to distinguish users and to show relevant content, for better user experience and security.
test_cookie011 months
u02 months
UserMatchHistory01 month
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE15 monthsThis cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.
YSC1This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.
Save & Accept