400 apps suspended from Facebook platform after audit

Social media giants Facebook have reportedly suspended more than 400 applications following an audit.

In May a report by New Scientist revealed that a Cambridge University-developed app called “myPersonality” had collected personal information from millions of Facebook users, and failed to protect it from misuse.

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At the time, Facebook said it had already suspended the app for passing data to others, and today said it was banned “for failing to agree to our request to audit and because it’s clear that they shared information with researchers as well as companies with only limited protections in place.”

The researchers behind the project have posted an FAQ here, mentioning that their research has been used in dozens of peer-reviews papers and saying much of it focused on exposing privacy risks.

The data is no longer shared, and in a statement, the university’s Psychometric Centre said it had never collected info from user’s friends.

 

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