Facebook reportedly uploaded 1.5M Users’ Email on its site without their consent

Facebook has been in the news lately regarding the user privacy concerns and frequent shutdowns of the social network and its family of apps as well. Also, back in January, reports emerged suggesting Facebook had spied on its users who have been paying $20 as part of their Market Research Program. And, now there’s a new report from Business Insider that suggests Facebook had unintentionally uploaded the email contacts of 1.5 million new Facebook users since 2016.

The shocking report adds fuel to already existing Facebook’s scrutiny about users privacy and data management. It had indicated that social network tech giant had collected new 1.5 million users’ emails who have signed up for Facebook since May 2016 (without their consent). Facebook had claimed that the email data had been ‘unintentionally uploaded to Facebook and the company is deleting them right away notifying the affected users as well.

The collected data included 1.5 million users’ contacts as well, which was further reportedly used to improve Facebook ad targeting, suggesting known people across the social network. According to the report, Facebook’s Spokesperson had claimed that they offered an option to verify their account and identity by giving away the email and password, this feature was later removed, however, the email harvesting continued by the tech giant regardlessly. The spokesperson had further claimed that Facebook hadn’t accessed any data collected via emails apparently.

After public criticism over Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, this newly reported incident is indeed another users’ privacy concerned that needs to be looked into by the social networking company. As of now, Facebook claims to be fixing the issue and are further notifying people whose contacts were imported as well. The company also claims that Facebook users can review and manage the contacts they want to share within the settings of the social network. Stay tuned to PhoneRadar for more such interesting updates.

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