Facebook was lax about user data security for years, and now it's causing issues.
The vast majority of the records — 540 million users' info — had apparently been uploaded publicly by Cultura Cultiva, a Mexican media company. A second unprotected user data was far smaller, at around 22,000 users, and related to a Facebook-integrated app called"At the Pool" which shut down in 2014.
The findings highlight how Facebook's years of lax oversight over how app developers could access user data has led to a massive proliferation of people's sensitive information across the internet, often without their knowledge or informed consent. Facebook has since tightened up the data the user data accessible to app developers, especially in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but at least some damage has already been done.
"As Facebook faces scrutiny over its data stewardship practices, they have made efforts to reduce third party access. But as these exposures show, the data genie cannot be put back in the bottle,""Data about Facebook users has been spread far beyond the bounds of what Facebook can control today.
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