The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Thursday asked Facebook to respond by June 20 to allegations in media reports that the social media company had shared users’ data with device makers without their explicit consent.
The ministry said Facebook had apologised for data breaches during the Cambridge Analytica episode and had assured the Indian government that it would make efforts to protect users’ privacy. “However, such reports raise uncomfortable questions about the assurances made by Facebook,” the ministry added.
Cambridge Analytica was a political data analytics firm that was accused of harvesting the information of close to 87 million Facebook users to influence the outcome of the United States presidential election in 2016. The company shut down in May.
The government raised the concerns after The New York Times reported on Sunday back that Facebook had allowed nearly 60 companies – including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry and Microsoft – to access data of users’ friends without their permission. Facebook denied the claims and said the data access was meant to allow its users to access account features on mobile devices.
On Tuesday, the social media giant confirmed that it has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including a manufacturing company with close ties to the Chinese government.
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