At the center of the controversy is Global Science Research (GSR) former co-director Aleksandr Kogan, who collected data on people and their friends under the garb of a personality test app and later sold that data to British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica (which also handled President Trump's election campaign).
The consulting firm said that it received data on 30 million people according to its agreement with GSR, but Facebook estimated the number of users affected could be closer to 87 million based on the maximum number of friends those people may have had at the time. In any case, the firm said that the data had been deleted on Facebook's request and hadn't been used in the 2016 elections.
Also, while Facebook claimed that the data transfer was without its knowledge, Kogan said that the company was well aware of the changes it made to the terms of service to reflect the intention to use the data commercially. Even then, the data was removed when requested.
That's one part.
A longer standing issue is with respect to the purported Russian meddling in U.S. elections through agencies that posed as different interest groups to create disharmony amongst the voting public. Facebook has said on multiple occasions that actual influence on people was negligible even as it revised its initial estimate of 10 million users that may have seen the offensive ads to 126 million (when organic posts were included).
Mr. Zuckerberg Goes to Washington
Senators figured that all this was enough to warrant a conversation with Zuckerberg, who made a calm and collected impression while sticking to his ground. He accepted responsibility and blame for the mishaps and detailed what the company was doing to change the situation.
On the question of regulation of the social network, Zuckerberg said that Facebook wasn't opposed to the "right" kind, especially regarding transparency guidelines on data use, rules providing for greater user control over personal data and protections for innovation.
One of the major revelations was that Facebook isn't ruling out the possibility of a paid version of the app although there would always be a free, ad-supported version to help people connect with each other on an affordable platform.
Facebook Taking Action
International Reactions
Australia's privacy watchdog (OAIC) has opened a formal investigation into Facebook after the social networking company confirmed that 300K of the people that might have been affected by the Cambridge Analytica data issue were Australian.
The UK's data watchdog, the ICO, has been investigating Facebook on the data analytics issue since May 2017 (1.1 million Britons were affected).
What Users Say
As Zuckerberg struggles to satisfy legislators and pacify privacy advocates, pollsters have jumped into the scene to gauge user reaction.
The first poll, conducted by IBD/TIPP found that most of the 902 participants nationwide whether young or old, male or female, rich or poor, democratic or republican (or neither), think that Facebook is having a bad effect on society, although the percentages vary slightly between these groups on whether they are likely to use Facebook less as a result. Most people are concerned about the privacy of their data on Facebook.
A Deutsche Bank survey found that of the 500 people it surveyed, few are actually deleting Facebook although they intend to use it less, with Facebook-owned Instagram likely to be the biggest beneficiary. The survey also found that people trust Google slightly more than Facebook, although most aren't interested in an ad-free paid version that will guarantee privacy.
Yahoo Finance spoke to 4,000 respondents on whether they would pay $5 a month for a Facebook account if it meant nobody could access their data. Only 13% said yes, with 87% saying no.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.
