Facebook Lost an Astounding $70 Billion Due to Data Breach Scandal!

The recent events surrounding Facebook created a major buzz around the world. With news of personal data used by companies without the user’s knowledge have caused the tech-giant’s stocks to plummet. The recent Cambridge Analytica controversy greatly affected the company’s standing with its admission that specific malicious actors have used user’s data without consent.

Facebook’s Market Value Down

Facebook Inc shares are down yet again as the US consumer protection regulator announced an investigation on the company following the recent scandal. Its shares decreased as much as 6.5 percent aka $150 per share since July 2017.

So far, the company has lost over $70 Billion in market value

The US Federal Trade Commission announced that it would conduct an investigation into data breach after the public outcries and pressure from American and European lawmakers.  Last March 16, shares plummeted to 13 percent after Facebook’s admission that Cambridge Analytica harvested around 50 million user’s data for allegedly “educational purposes”.

User Data Leaked

Facebook ended up in huge controversy after Cambridge Analytica disclosed millions of their user’s information worldwide. The giant has since banned the firm from their site. In his statement, Paul Grewel, Facebook’s VP and deputy general counsel, said that malicious actors were involved but did not disclose any names. He added that a Cambridge professor who developed a personality prediction app called “This Is Your Digital Life”, aimed to extract data from the users who downloaded the app and send it to CA.

Facebook says that the professor and the members involved had agreed to destroy the data before the 2016 US elections took place. They even provided proof to back up their testimonies. However, just recently, they discovered that some data remained contrary to the documents submitted to the tech company.

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, confirms Cambridge Analytica has reached out to them

CA is the political data analysis firm of Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL). The firm was instrumental during the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump. In a tweet, the WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange confirmed that Alexander Nix if Cambridge Analytica has contacted him regarding Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 emails. Assange said in the tweet that WikiLeaks has declined their help to find the missing emails.

The Trump Campaign team has actively distanced itself from the data analysis firm. Michael S. Glassner, the Trump campaign’s executive director, stated that they only got the source of their voter’s data from the Republican National Committee. He further added that the RNC’s data were instrumental in Trump’s campaign, and they took pride in contributing to his victory. He denied any claims stating that other firms influenced the 2016 US Election that led to the President’s victory.

Advertisers Backing Out

Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and Tesla, deleted his Facebook pages which contained millions of followers

Several advertisers have pulled out of Facebook and suspended their paid ads. Among them were Mozilla, owner of the web browser Firefox, Commerzbank from Germany, and wireless speaker manufacturer Sonos. Late last month, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk deleted the Facebook pages of both SpaceX and Tesla. Brian Action, the co-founder of WhatsApp, tweeted Musk with a hashtag #deletefacebook and others jumped in on the conversation.

The #deletefacebook trended in Twitter as people are calling out others to delete their Facebook accounts. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, says the said movement worries him but the company has yet to experience an ultimate downfall from this scandal.