“Mozilla is pressing pause on our Facebook advertising,” the browser maker announced its decision in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting controversy. The company said that the social networking giant knows more about its users than any other company. The firm added that it’s concerned over default privacy settings and has decided to take a fresh look at Facebook’s app permissions.
Facebook knows a great deal about their two billion users — perhaps more intimate information than any other company does.
A single researcher with an app that had fewer than 300,000 users was able to profile tens of millions of Facebook users in the United States, pulling personal information on not only about those users who used the app but their 50 million friends, as well. This didn’t happen because of a hack, it happened because Facebook policies allowed such behavior.
Related Google, Facebook, and Twitter Are All Losing Their Top Security Executives
Will consider returning when Facebook takes stronger action
Mozilla said that since it supports the platform with its advertising dollars, it has decided to take a closer look at Facebook’s current default privacy settings. Facebook had claimed that the Cambridge Analytica incident can’t happen now since it changed policies back in 2014. However, Mozilla doesn’t seem to believe everything that the data monster says.
“They know everything we click and like on their site, and know who our closest friends and relationships are. Because of its scale, Facebook has become one of the most convenient platforms to reach an audience for all companies and developers, whether a multibillion corporation or a not-for-profit.”
Mozilla added that the company is suspending its advertising but will consider returning “when Facebook takes stronger action in how it shares customer data, specifically strengthening its default privacy settings for third party apps.”
The Foundation is also running a petition demanding the social networking platform to “step up and respect its users” as the platform’s “current default settings leave a lot of questions and a lot of data flying around.”
“This wasn’t a data breach, no one hacked into Facebook or stole passwords,” the petition reads. “It happened because Facebook allowed apps to access not just sensitive information of people who used those programs – but their friends as well.”
