NEW YORK (AP) – The Latest on the alleged use of Facebook data to influence the U.S. presidential election (all times local):
9:30 p.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has finally apologized for weaknesses in the social network’s policies that enabled an app to gain access to the personal information of 50 million users without their consent.
Zuckerberg told CNN late Wednesday that he is “really sorry,” speaking in his first interview since news of the scandal broke last week.
His mea culpa on cable television came a few hours after he acknowledged on his Facebook page that his company had made mistakes, but without saying he was sorry.
During the CNN interview, Zuckerberg also expressed regrets for not doing more after Facebook first discovered that Cambridge Analytica had gained access to a broad swath of Facebook users’ data in 2015.
Until his post and the CNN interview, Zuckerberg had remained silent about the privacy scandal, as had Facebook’s No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg.
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3:50 p.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is admitting mistakes and outlining steps to protect user data in light of privacy scandal involving a Trump-connected data-mining firm.
Zuckerberg is breaking more than four days of silence as he posts an update about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Zuckerberg posted on his Facebook page Wednesday that Facebook has a “responsibility” to protect its users’ data, and “if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you.”
Zuckerberg and Facebook’s No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, have been quiet since news broke Friday that Cambridge may have used data improperly obtained from roughly 50 million Facebook users to try to sway elections.
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3 p.m.
Kenya’s opposition says lawyers are poring through a British broadcaster’s investigation to see whether legal action is possible against data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica over its role in the country’s disputed presidential election last year.
Cambridge Analytica already is being investigated by British and U.S. authorities over allegations the firm stole data from 50 million Facebook users and used it to manipulate elections.
National Super Alliance Chief Executive Norman Magaya says a legal team will look into whether Cambridge Analytica was involved in what Kenya’s opposition claims is a hack of the electoral commission and manipulation of results in favor of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In the Channel 4 report this week based on undercover video, Cambridge Analytica took credit for stage-managing Kenyatta’s campaign. It denied any involvement in inflammatory videos targeting Kenyatta’s opponents. There was no discussion of mining Facebook data.
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1:05 p.m.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to speak sometime in the next day with a “focus on rebuilding trust.”
That’s according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
The person gave no further details on timing or where Zuckerberg will speak. But the person said the CEO’s plan was “always to speak publicly” about Facebook’s latest privacy scandal, which involves Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of Facebook users in order to influence elections.
Criticism has been brewing as Zuckerberg and his No. 2 executive, Sheryl Sandberg, have been mum since the Cambridge Analytica story broke last Friday. Twitter users have been asking, using the “WhereIsZuck” hashtag.
