The documents, as well as interviews with about 50 former employees of Facebook and its corporate partners, reveal that Facebook allowed certain companies access to data despite those protections.
In all, the deals described in the documents benefited more than 150 companies most of them tech businesses, including online retailers and entertainment sites, but also automakers and media organizations.
The story, which builds on reporting earlier this year from both the Times and the Wall Street Journal, describes a variety of data-sharing partnerships, some of which users were likely unaware of.
It allowed all of its partners to personalize their own services using whatever Facebook knew about you and was willing to share.
It seems possible that a rogue employee made mischief in someones messages, but the Times story doesnt include any examples.
There are other worrisome details in the Times story, including reports that Yahoo and the Russian search company Yandex both retained access to user data years after it was supposed to have been cut off.
Presumably, they would have had more questions to ask if they had access to the list of 150 companies that had been making data partnerships with Facebook over the past decade.
It also highlighted some of the benefits of data sharing, including the ability to create more personalized experiences on other sites and services.
Every company named in the report will be held account for the Times findings, and they better have good and thorough answers when shareholders, lawmakers, and reporters start asking.Original article