Facebook axes accounts of companies that build face recognition software for the Russian government

Facebook reported at the end of September that it was hit by the worst data leaks ever, with 50 million users, including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg.

Attackers took advantage of the site's View As & # 39; function, which allows people to see how their profiles look for other users.

The unknown attackers used a function in the code & # 39; Access Tokens & # 39 ;, to take over people's accounts, allowing hackers to gain access to private messages, photos & messages – although Facebook said there no proof was done.

The hackers also tried to harvest people's personal data, including name, gender and birthplace, via Facebook's systems.

Facebook said it does not yet know whether information from the affected accounts has been misused or used and is working with the FBI to conduct further investigations.

Mark Zuckerberg, however, assured users that there was no access to passwords and credit card information.

Facebook says it has found no evidence to date that hackers have broken into third-party apps after a data leak has exposed 50 million users (inventory)

As a result of the infringement, the company earlier today removed roughly 90 million people from their account as a security measure.

Facebook hit the headlines earlier this year, after data from 87 million users had been incorrectly used by Cambridge Analytica, a political advisory firm.

The disclosure led to government requests to the company's privacy practices around the world and led to a # deleteFacebook & # 39; movement among consumers.

The communication company Cambridge Analytica had offices in London, New York, Washington, but also in Brazil and Malaysia.

The company can pride itself on the fact that it can "find your voters and move them to action" & # 39; through data-driven campaigns and a team that includes data scientists and behavioral psychologists.

& # 39; In the United States alone, we have played a crucial role in winning presidential races and in conference and state elections & # 39 ;, says Cambridge Analytica on its website with data on more than 230 million US voters.

The company benefited from a feature that meant apps could request permission to access your own data, as well as the data from all of your Facebook friends.

The data corporation suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix (photo), after recording a number of controversial claims from him, including the impression that Cambridge Analytica played a central role in Donald Trump's election.

This meant that the company was able to extract the information from 87 million Facebook users, although only 270,000 people gave their permission to do so.

This is designed to help them create software that can predict and influence voter choices at the ballot box.

The data product suspended its president, Alexander Nix, after the recordings of him emerged making a series of controversial claims, including that Cambridge Analytica had a central role in the election of Donald Trump.

This information would have been used to support the Brexit campaign in the UK.

It has also suffered several previous problems.

In 2013, Facebook unveiled a software problem that exposed 6 million phone numbers and email addresses of users to unauthorized viewers for a year, while a technical failure in 2008 revealed confidential birth dates on 80 million Facebook user profiles.