Facebook Warns That More Data Scandals Could Be On The Way

Facebook is still dealing with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal that saw the data of 87 million users improperly shared with the political analytics firm. However, that may just be the first shoe to drop. The company warned investors this week that more damaging revelations like it are probably on the way.  

Though the initial news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal hurt Facebook’s stock, it bounced back this week once the company’s quarterly earnings were revealed. And it was in that quarterly earnings report that Facebook warned investors that the company’s scandals may be far from over. Facebook itself is auditing thousands of apps to find more potential sources of trouble, but it also warned that the media or other third parties could discover instances of “the existence of false or undesirable user accounts, election interference, improper ad purchases, activities that threaten people’s safety,” and more.

“We anticipate that we will discover and announce additional incidents of misuse of user data or other undesirable activity by third parties,” the company wrote. “The discovery… may negatively affect user trust and engagement, harm our reputation and brands, and adversely affect our business and financial results.”

What’s perhaps most troubling is how unbothered Facebook seems by all this. Now it knows these kinds of controversies won’t hurt its bottom line too much, the company seems to have relaxed. And that’s not a good thing for fixing the actual problem.