Mark Zuckerberg has something in common with 87 million other Facebook users: His data was misappropriated, too.
The Facebook CEO revealed during a House committee hearing on Wednesday that his data was also sold to Cambridge Analytica, among other analytics firms that had access to the information. Facebook discovered that Cambridge Analytica had access to 87 million people's data after Aleksandr Kogan, a lecturer at Cambridge University, sold the firm information gathered from an app called "thisisyourdigitallife."
The app, presented as a personality test, didn't just take data from people who took the quiz, but also from friends connected with the test-takers.
"Was your data included in the data sold to malicious third parties?" Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, asked. "Your personal data."
"Yes," Zuckerberg answered promptly, without elaboration on what was taken from his profile. It's unclear if Zuckerberg took the quiz himself or if one of his friends was affected.
On Tuesday, Facebook rolled out a tool for people to check whether their information was included in the data that made its way to Cambridge Analytica. That analytics company wasn't the only one that Kogan sold the data to, -- Zuckerberg noted in Tuesday's Senate hearing that other companies also got access to it.!