Facebook Confirms Data Of 5.6 Lakh Indians Leaked, What Will The Indian Government Do Next?

First, news emerged that Cambridge Analytica has siphoned off data from 50 million Facebook users.

Then, yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg admitted that number was much higher, closer to 87 million. Now, we have a good look at how those numbers translate in India.

In a response to a notice from the Government of India, a Facebook spokesperson admitted the data of over 5.6 lakh Indian users was compromised and “improperly” shared.?

“We are investigating the specific number of people whose information was accessed by the app, including those in India,” the spokesperson said.

“Cambridge Analytica’s acquisition of Facebook data through the app developed by Dr Aleksandr Kogan and his company Global Science Research Limited (GSR) happened without our authorization and was an explicit violation of our Platform policies. The numbers that we have now are that only 335 people in India installed the app, which is 0.1 percent of the App's total worldwide installs.”

Also Read:?Ravi Shankar Prasad Threatens Mark Zuckerberg With Court Summons If Indian User Data Is Leaked

The app in question was a quiz by the name of ‘thisisyourdigitallife’, the kind that gives you an analysis based on your answers. Cambridge Analytica used this app to access users’ personal data when they allowed it Facebook permissions. Unfortunately, with the way Facebook’s permissions were previously set up, your friend signing up for an app also exposes your data to the developer behind it. So just those 335 people ended up compromising approximately 5,62,455 people in India, 0.6 percent of the total number of users affected around the globe.

Now, you can expect Indian authorities to continue to drive this matter, particularly after IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned Zuckerberg that the abuse of Indian users’ data “will not be tolerated.”