Facebook data mining scandal widens to ’87m users’

Facebook Inc has now said that it believes that data of 37m more users, 50m more than previously reported, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

The social giant’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer made the admission at the end of a “lengthy – and somewhat unrelated – blog post” yesterday, Wired reports.

The BBC has been told that about 1.1m of them are UK-based.

Telling reporters that he accepted blame for the data leak, Mark Zuckerberg has stated: “We didn’t take a broad enough view on what our responsibility was and that was a huge mistake. That was my mistake.”

When asked if anyone had been fired over the data scandal, the CEO added: “I started this place, I run it, I’m responsible for what happens here. I’m going to do the best job I can going forward. I’m not looking to throw anyone under the bus for mistakes I’ve made.”

Meanwhile, Facebook has announced a number of measures like tightening its review process for apps that request access to information such as check-ins, likes, photos and posts.