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Over 300,000 Germans potentially hit by Facebook data leak

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Over 300,000 Germans potentially hit by Facebook data leak
Photo: DPA

Facebook on Wednesday admitted that up to 87 million people could have been affected by the unauthorized leak of data to Cambridge Analytica, with 310,000 Germans potentially hit.

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In the scandal that has enveloped the social media company, British newspaper the Observer revealed last month that an academic at Cambridge University developed a survey for Facebook users which trawled their data and that of their friends. The information was then passed on to Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis firm which worked on Donald Trump’s election campaign.

There is a suspicion that Cambridge Analytica used the information to send highly targeted campaign advertizing to Facebook users based on information they had given Facebook about themselves and their interests.

Some 65 Facebook users in Germany took part in the survey, Facebook confirmed on Wednesday. It also stated that a maximum of 309,815 users in Germany could have had their information collected due to friendships with participants in Germany and abroad.

The vast majority of affected users were in the US where Facebook estimates that up to 70.6 million people had their data taken.

Cambridge Analytica denies that it uses the information in the US election campaign.

Facebook knew about that data leak since 2015 but chose not to inform users until the Observer broke the story last month, something the tech company has described as “a mistake.”

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