A Facebook boycott campaign took off following news a political data firm harvested private information from over 50 million users without their knowledge or consent, with more than 40,000 people mentioning the hashtag #DeleteFacebook on Twitter on Tuesday, The New York Times reports.
Cambridge Analytica built a powerful software program with the data to profile voters and target them with personalized political ads, working closely with President Donald Trump's election team and the winning Brexit campaign.
Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg broke his silence Wednesday about the scandal, admitting to mistakes but not offering an apology.
"We have a responsibility to protect your data," Zuckerberg said. "And if we can't, then we don't deserve to serve you. I've been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn't happen again.
"The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there's more to do, and we need to step up and do it."
Facebook is now facing an inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission and FBI special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating ties between the Trump campaign, Cambridge Analytica and the Republican National Committee.
Many users are disenchanted with the social media giant.
"I suspected this stuff was going on, but this is the first time it's been plainly exposed," fillmaker Richard Perry told the Times. "It seems so malicious, and Facebook seems so complicit all the way up and down, like it doesn't care about its users."
"Facebook was the main platform I used to keep in touch with all of them, and it was a difficult decision to give it up," added Dan Clark, a retired Navy veteran. "But you have to stand for something, so I just put my foot down and said enough is enough."
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