At least five thousand developers had incorrect access to information from inactive Facebook users, Facebook announced in a Wednesday blog post.
It is not known exactly what developers could see. In any case, Facebook mentions ‘language’ and ‘gender’ as examples.
After a major scandal in 2018, in which the British company Cambridge Analytica obtained data from millions of users without permission, Facebook adjusted its rules. This made it impossible for developers to collect data from people who were logged out for more than 90 days.
It now appears that developers continued to have access to certain data. “It happened, for example, when someone used a fitness app to invite friends over to a workout, but we didn’t see that some of those friends had been inactive for months,” writes Facebook.
The social medium did not disclose which developers are involved. It is also not clear how long they had access to the data. Facebook also did not disclose the number of users. The company says it has seen “no evidence” that information has been unlawfully shared.
The problem has now been resolved, according to Facebook.
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