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Facebook apologizes after data breach

Data Breach - Level 4

Facebook apologized for a data breach. CEO Mark Zuckerberg took out full-page ads in newspapers. He was being criticized for his slow response to news of the breach. A group of consultants called Cambridge Analytica is accused of using data on up to 50 million users to benefit Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Zuckerberg said: "This was a breach of trust, and I am sorry....We're now taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook should have done more to protect data. Facebook was warned about its weak data protection in 2011. Mr Zuckerberg outlined what Facebook would now do. He said: "We're investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data...We expect there are others. The value of Facebook fell by $75 billion this week. Many users have abandoned their Facebook pages, in calls to #deletefacebook.

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Data Breach - Level 5

Facebook has apologized for the data breach that was revealed last week. CEO Mark Zuckerberg took out full-page adverts in newspapers in the UK and US. He was being criticized for being too slow to respond to news of the breach. Data on up to 50 million users was used by a group of consultants called Cambridge Analytica (CA). CA is accused of using the data to benefit Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Zuckerberg said: "This was a breach of trust, and I am sorry....We're now taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again." The apology made no mention of CA.

Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook should have done more to protect data from being exploited. There are reports that Facebook was warned about its weak data protection back in 2011. Mr Zuckerberg outlined the actions Facebook would now take. He said: "We're investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data...We expect there are others. And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected." The value of Facebook fell by $75 billion this week. Many users have been abandoning their Facebook pages, in calls to #deletefacebook.

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11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Data Breach - Level 6

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the data breach that was revealed last week. Mr Zuckerberg took out full-page advertisements in broadsheet newspapers in the UK and US to make his apology for the data privacy scandal. Zuckerberg was being criticized for being too slow to respond to the news. Personal data on up to 50 million users was used by a U.S. political consultancy called Cambridge Analytica. This company is accused of using the leaked data to benefit Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Zuckerberg said: "This was a breach of trust, and I am sorry....We're now taking steps to make sure this doesn't happen again." The apology made no mention of Cambridge Analytica.

Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook could and should have done more to protect user data and to stop it being exploited. Reports are now circulating that Facebook was warned its data protection was too weak back in 2011. Mr Zuckerberg outlined the actions Facebook would take going forward. He said: "We're investigating every single app that had access to large amounts of data before we fixed this. We expect there are others. And when we find them, we will ban them and tell everyone affected." The value of Facebook has fallen by $75 billion this week; Zuckerberg's wealth fell by $10 billion. There has also been a surge in users abandoning their Facebook pages, in online calls to #deletefacebook.

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25 online activities    |    27-page printable    |    2-page mini-lesson