Facebook Rebuked for Failing to Disclose Data-Sharing Deals

Facebook and some of the other largest technology firms in the world faced sharp criticism on Wednesday for failing to disclose the extent of the social networks data-sharing deals, many of which went back to the companys early years.

Details of the deals, revealed in a New York Times report on Tuesday, set in motion a fresh round of rebukes from legislators who had singled out Facebooks sharing practices in the recent past. And they came at a moment when the Trump administration, Congress and even some Silicon Valley executives are calling for stricter privacy laws that would govern Facebook and other businesses that trade in huge amounts of personal information.

Lawmakers in the United States and Britain on Wednesday called for greater oversight of Facebook, the worlds dominant social media platform. But critics also focused on statements that Facebooks chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, had made in recent months while defending the company.

Senator John Kennedy, the Louisiana Republican, said the revelations made him question Mr. Zuckerbergs decision making.

Last June, The Times uncovered a subset of Facebooks partners, all of them device makers, that pulled user data onto smartphones and tablets.

In a post published on Facebook on Tuesday, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, the companys director of developer platforms and programs, defended the partnerships, saying the company entered into the agreements to let users interact with Facebook friends across devices and popular websites.

Facebook was already dealing with fallout from reports that a political consulting company, Cambridge Analytica, obtained the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users.

Now Institute at New York University, wrote in a tweet referring to Facebooks partnerships with Spotify, Netflix and other companies.

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