Facebook accused of collecting personal data of users and sharing with third-party companies, yet again

Facebook is at it again, social media giant is accused of collecting and sharing personal data of its users, without ir kwledge, with hundreds of telecom companies around world, according to a confidential Facebook document reviewed and reported by Intercept.

Of late, re has been end to Facebook's crisis rising from numerous data and privacy scandals around world, especially when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is busy laying out company's so-called "privacy vision" to recover from an alrey massive hit to Facebook's reputation and trust among users.

Intercept investigation certainly les Facebook into an awkward situation as it also claims that Facebook itself pulls surveillance data from users' smartphone.

set of data includes technical information about your devices, in dition to your use of Wi-Fi and cellular networks, your location history, interests and social groups. data is sourced from main Facebook app for Android and iOS, as well as Instagram and Messenger, according to Intercept.

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investigation suggests that data of this magnitude could be beneficial for so many businesses worldwide including telecom companies and it also reveals that Facebook partners left stone unturned in tracking ir competitors using this data and racially targeted s.

This could be alarming given surveillance powers enjoyed by cell phone carriers. But AT&T is transparent about its data collection practices pertaining to information about websites you visit and smartphone apps you use on your networks.

"Actionable Insights"

Last year, Facebook anunced a new program that it said was aimed at solving patchy cellular data connections around world. blog post also briefly mentioned Actionable Insights for "enabling better business decisions" courtesy of "analytics tools."

As per report citing confidential Facebook document and source, real purpose behind Actionable Insights is to help Facebook Partners use your personal data for free of cost to earn more targetted vertising business.

A Facebook spokesperson told Intercept that Actionable Insights doesn’t collect any data from user devices and it only collects data that was alrey being collected anyway.

Last year, Facebook came under fire after a bombshell report discovered how Facebook allowed over 150 companies, including Netflix, Spotify and Bing, to access user data including private messs.

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This news comes after Facebook-owned Instagram is also in midst of dealing with its own privacy-related issue. A social media influencer marketing ncy Chtrbox has mand to out private data of nearly 5 crores Instagram users, mainly influencers, celebrities and brands accounts. And it is likely that leaked information of Instagram users could have come from Facebook.