Facebook on Friday revealed that a major software bug may have allowed third-party apps to wrongly access the photos of up to 6.8 million users, including images that people began uploading to the site but didn’t post publicly. In general, Facebook allows apps by third-party developers to obtain users' permission and access photos shared on their timeline. Because of the bug, though, roughly 1,500 apps could access “a broader set of photos than usual,” Facebook explained in a blog post. In the case of Cambridge Analytica, the firm previously harnessed profile information on Facebook users in 2015 through a quiz app developed by a researcher. In response to that scandal, Facebook initiated a broad review of the games and other third-party apps made available to its users on the site.

Source: Washington Post December 14, 2018 15:55 UTC