If you’re worried that your Facebook data might have been collected by Cambridge Analytica, here is a guide on how to check if your information was shared with Cambridge Analytica’s thisisyourdigitallife app.
Interestingly, Mark Zuckerberg’s personal info was fetched by the app.
Cambridge Analytica is British political consulting firm which uses data mining, data brokerage and data analysis with strategic communication for electoral process.
Facebook reacted to the scandal days after in a blog post promising users that they would be informed if their data was fetched by Cambridge Analytica.
“As people used the Facebook platform in new ways, we strengthened the rules. We required that developers get people’s permission before they access the data needed to run their apps – for instance, a photo sharing app has to get specific permission from you to access your photos.
“Over the years we’ve introduced more guardrails, including in 2014, when we began reviewing apps that request certain data before they could launch, and introducing more granular controls for people to decide what information to share with apps.
“These actions would prevent any app like Aleksandr Kogan’s from being able to access so much data today.
“Even with these changes, we’ve seen abuse of our platform and the misuse of people’s data, and we know we need to do more. We have a responsibility to everyone who uses Facebook to make sure their privacy is protected.
” That’s why we’re making changes to prevent abuse. We’re going to set a higher standard for how developers build on Facebook, what people should expect from them, and, most importantly, from us.”
The social media has promised to investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information “before we changed our platform in 2014 to reduce data access, and we will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity.”
While the investigation is ongoing, this is
How to check if Cambridge Analytica collected your Facebook information
Step 1:
Login to your Facebook profile either on browser or using the Facebook app for Android or iPhone
Step 2:
Head straight to the”Help Centre” You can find this towards the bottom of the page if you’re using google chrome.
Or simply use (http://facebook.com/help)
Step 3:
In the search space, enter Cambridge Analytica, and hit search.
Facebook will let you know if your account details were obtained or not.
When I checked, my data wasn’t shared, see photo below.
Note: Even if you didn’t download “This is your Digital Life,” app, it’s possible your information has been been shared with Cambridge Analytica, if any of your friends was using the app, then the app would be able to grab your personal information.
Alternatively use the link below to check your Cambridge Analytica status :
https://m.facebook.com/help/yourinfo/?ref=u2u
Moving forward:
“If we find developers that misused personally identifiable information, we will ban them from our platform,” Facebook says.
How to disallow app from having access to your Facebook information
- Head straight to Apps, click on it and check apps that have access to your information
- Turn off access for unused apps. If you haven’t used a third party app within the last three months, Facebook will turn off the app’s access to your information.
Have you checked whether your data was shared? Or are you having problem doing that, drop your comment we will be available to guide you.