Facebook's ineffective safeguards allowed unauthorized access to the information of millions of the social-media giant's users -- including data later used for political purposes, the federal and B.C. privacy watchdogs said Thursday.
A long-awaited joint report from the two privacy commissioners found major shortcomings in Facebook's practices and called for stronger laws to protect Canadians.
The complaint triggering the probe followed reports that Facebook had let an outside organization use an app to access users' personal information, and that some of the data was then shared with others. Recipients of the information included the firm Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in U.S. political campaigns.
The report released Thursday said about 300,000 Facebook users worldwide added the app, leading to the potential disclosure of the personal information of approximately 87 million others, including more than 600,000 Canadians. "Facebook's refusal to act responsibly is deeply troubling given the vast amount of sensitive personal information users have entrusted to this company," said federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien. "Their privacy framework was empty, and their vague terms were so elastic that they were not meaningful for privacy protection.
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