Facebook allowed phone makers to access users' data: Report
New York, June 4: Raising fresh concerns about Facebook's privacy protection policies, a New York Times report has exposed how the social network allowed about 60 device makers, including Apple and Samsung, to access personal information of users and their friends.
Even before Facebook apps were widely available on smartphones, Facebook had data-sharing partnerships with the device makers, the report said citing company officials, adding that most of the deals remain in effect.
While the device partnerships allowed Facebook to expand its reach, it let the phone makers offer customers popular features of the social network, such as messaging, "like" buttons and address books.
The deals raise concerns about the company's privacy protections and compliance with a 2011 consent decree with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), The Times said.
Facebook, which is already under scrutiny for misuse of millions of its users' data after the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal became public, reportedly allowed the device companies access to the data of users' friends without their explicit consent.
While Facebook's leaders said that the kind of access exploited by the political consulting firm in 2014 was cut off by the next year as it prohibited developers from collecting information from users' friends.
But the company officials did not disclose that such restrictions were not applicable to makers of cellphones, tablets and other hardware, the report said.
However, Facebook officials denied the device partnerships violated its privacy policies, the FTC agreement and pledges to users.
They said its partnerships were governed by contracts that strictly limited use of the data, including any stored on partners' servers, adding that they knew of no cases where the information had been misused.
"These partnerships work very differently from the way in which app developers use our platform," Ime Archibong, a Facebook vice president was quoted as saying.
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Congress cites Maniben Patel's diary entries, asks Rajnath to apologise for Babri claim
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
