Facebook: 87 Million Users May be Affected by Data Breach

Social media company Facebook now says the data of up to 87 million people was improperly shared with British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, as Mark Zuckerberg defended his leadership at the huge social network.

Facebook’s estimate was far higher than news reports suggesting 50 million users may have been affected in the privacy scandal which has roiled the company and sparked questions for the entire internet sector on data protection.

AFP reports Zuckerberg told reporters on a conference call he accepted responsibility for the failure to protect user data but maintained that he was still the best person to lead the network of two billion users.

“When you’re building something like Facebook which is unprecedented in the world, there are things that you’re going to mess up… What I think people should hold us accountable for is if we are learning from our mistakes.”

To remedy the problem, Zuckerberg says Facebook must “rethink our relationship with people across everything we do” and that it will take a number of years to regain user trust.

Cambridge analytica worked with the Trump Presidential campaign in the US.

Zuckerberg is expected to face questions from US politicians about the saga and another senior executive will be grilled in the UK where the data of more than a million people is said to have been compromised.