Facebook has denied allegations that it allowed some companies unauthorized access to people’s data.This comes following a story on the New York Times alleging that the social network had granted big tech companies greater access to user data.
Citing document from 2017, the New York Times said that Facebook allowed Microsoft-owned search engine, Bing to see the names of “virtually all Facebook user friends without their consent”
“None of these partnerships or features gave companies access to information without people’s permission, nor did they violate our 2012 settlement with the FTC,” Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook’s director of developer platforms and programs, said in a blog post.
Read: US President-Elect Joe Biden Urged to Reject the Influence of Tech Giants on His Administration
The article further says that Facebook allowed Netflix and Spotify to read users’ private messages and gave Amazon access to users’ names and contact information through their friends.
Facebook however maintains that it merely helped users access their Facebook accounts or specific features on devices and platforms developed by Tech companies, otherwise known as integration partners including Apple, Amazon, Blackberry and Yahoo.
Facebook said the partners had access to messages, but that they “had to explicitly sign in to Facebook first” before using a messaging feature.
Read also: Internet Giants Taken to Task Over Search Rankings
The social media platform said that it had already shut down the partnerships in the last several month, leaving Apple and Amazon only.
A British Lawmaker this month revealed that Facebook had offered companies such as Netflix and Airbnb access to data about users’ friends that was not available to most apps in 2015.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
