Facebook gave Chinese companies access to user data

On the third of June, sources reported that Facebook had given around 60 firms access to user data on the service. Three days later, it has been discovered that some of the firms involved were Chinese, including one deemed a national security threat by the US.

After some more digging, The New York Times discovered that Facebook had given user data to at least four Chinese companies. Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo, and TCL were given access to user data such as friends, religious and political stances, work and education history, and relationship status.

Huawei was deemed a threat to national security by the US in February of this year. This was due to US intelligence services claiming that Huawei collaborates heavily with the Chinese government. There is no evidence to back this claim, but the US has banned the sales of Huawei devices in military bases.

These deals date back to at least 2010 and are still in effect, but Facebook has since claimed they are going to end the Huawei deal by the end of the week.

KitGuru Says: In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook really needs to try and keep its head down, and this isn’t really the best way to go about it. What’s your opinion on Facebook and its handling of user data?

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