Because of this, the risks could be higher in India,” he said.The unique social media habits of Indians add to the risks. “Companies like Cambridge Analytica will have a field day in India as opposed to other markets as in the western world they need to create a footprint but in India they don’t need to. Over 90% of the messages, status updates, photographs and wishes posted in India by users are in the public domain,” Krishnan said.Concerns are mounting globally over how much data Facebook has on users in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica data breach controversy with users attempting to download information on how much they have given away to the platform. In a response to ET’s queries, Facebook said its terms of agreements are the same everywhere and that contact uploading is optional.“In Messenger and Facebook Lite, people are expressly asked if they want to give permission to upload their contacts from their phone — it's explained right there in the app when they get started,” the company said. “We already show people what apps their accounts are connected to and control what data they’ve permitted those apps to use.

Source: Economic Times March 28, 2018 04:52 UTC