Facebook confirmed on Thursday evening to the European Commission that the data of up to 2.7 million residents of the European Union (EU) could have been “illegally” transmitted to Cambridge Analytica, a spokesperson for the Commission said on Friday at its midday press briefing. Until now information on the data harvested by Cambridge Analytica had quoted the figure of one million affected users in the EU.
The British firm harvested the data of some 87 million Facebook users worldwide, including about 61,000 in Belgium, by exploiting a security breach in the social media network’s application. This data was then used for political aims.
Facebook will inform the affected users from 9 of April onward.
European Commissioner Vera Jourova had sent a letter last week to the U.S. company expressing her dissatisfaction. In its first response, Facebook said in a letter received on Thursday evening by the Commission that 2.7 million users could have been affected in the EU.
Contacts are ongoing between the Commission and Facebook to implement the required changes.
The Brussels Times
