Leaked documents show that Facebook weaponized user’s data against competitors, with little regard to privacy

In the past, Facebook executives including CEO Mark Zuckerberg regularly wielded user data as a tool to reward partners and smash rivals, according to some 4,000 pages of leaked emails, messages, and other documents spanning from 2011 to 2015.

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Amazon for instance got extended data access because it was not only spending money on ads but partnering with Facebook on the launch of its ill-fated Fire Phone, NBC News reported. Conversely, executives discussed cutting off data for a rival messaging app, MessageMe.

The company moreover discussed ways of making third-party apps pay for access to user data, among them direct payment, ad spending, or reciprocal data sharing. The company ultimately decided against direct sales, but did choose to hand data to developers considered personal friends of Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, or who spent money on Facebook and shared their own data.

Responding to NBC, Facebook denied any preferential treatment, but didn’t question the authenticity of the leaked documents, which may be the same ones the U.K. Parliament obtained in late 2018 as part of an investigation.

To read the rest of the Appleinsider article, click here.

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