Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in an interview aired Friday that another breach of users’ data is possible, which she says is why the tech giant is doing an audit and investigation.
When asked on NBC’s “Today Show” if she believes there could be another breach that compromised tens of millions of peoples’ data, Sandberg said, “Yes, we think it’s possible. That’s why we’re doing the audit.”
“Do you think there could be other breaches?” –@savannahguthrie
“Yes, we think it’s possible. That’s why we’re doing the audit.” -Sheryl Sandberg pic.twitter.com/gbXDcu3D4I
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 6, 2018
The COO of Facebook also agreed that the social media platform should have informed users that their data had been breached earlier.
Sandberg said Facebook had legal assurances that Cambridge Analytica had deleted the information they were not authorized to collect back when they were first made aware of the breach in 2015, but they never checked up on whether it was deleted.
“We thought it had been deleted because they gave us assurances, and it wasn’t until other people told us it wasn’t true,” Sandberg said. “We had legal assurances that they deleted, what we didn’t do was the next step of an audit, and we are trying to do that now.”
“We thought that the data had been deleted, and we should have checked.” -Sheryl Sandberg on Cambridge Analytica breach
“Why didn’t you check?” –@savannahguthrie
“We thought it had been deleted because they gave us assurances.” -Sandberg pic.twitter.com/qXApx9QVPY
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 6, 2018
Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is set to testify before Congress April 11, and Sandberg said he is prepared to apologize and tell them the steps Facebook is taking steps to better protect users’ data in the future.
“Mark’s message to Congress is that he wants to be there to answer all of their questions, and he wants to tell them the steps we’re taking,” she said.
“What’s Facebook’s message to Congress?” @savannahguthrie asks Sheryl Sandberg about Mark Zuckerberg’s upcoming testimony before Congress pic.twitter.com/y5ZV9P5YAA
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 6, 2018
It was revealed last month that Cambridge Analytica was able to collect the data of what Facebook now says could be 87 million users’ personal information. Cambridge Analytica says it only had information from 30 million users, and that a subcontractor is the one that took more.
Zuckerberg, who did not originally plan to testify before lawmakers, agreed to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11 after pressure from government, the media, and the general public.
