The firm, Crimson Hexagon, says its platform allows clients -- which include major US corporations -- to analyze audiences and to track brand perception and campaign performance. Citing people familiar with the business, the Journal said the government contracts of Crimson Hexagon, which pulls public data from Facebook, were not approved by Facebook in advance. Bingham says his firm routinely vets potential government customers to ensure they comply with policies of its "data partners" like Facebook. "For example, there are special sensitivities about how government agencies can use online public data, even though that same data is freely accessible by others," he wrote. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in May that he was rolling out privacy controls demanded by European regulators to Facebook users worldwide because "everyone cares about privacy."

Source: The Nation Bangkok July 21, 2018 14:15 UTC