One of two messages will greet you at the top of your Facebook News Feed today. Each will have the heading "Protecting Your Information" and begin with a reiteration of "the importance of keeping your data safe." But the rest of the message either delivers good news — you were not affected by the Cambridge Analytica data breach, or not so good news — you are one of the estimated 87 million people whose data was involved in the incident.
A quick refresher: In 2014, voter profiling company Cambridge Analytica collected Facebook user data through a third party site called "This Is Your Digital Life." The site, which administered a personality quiz, gained access to users who gave it permission along with the data of their friends — that's why the number of people affected is so large in scope.
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Let's start with the good news. If you were not affected, you will be directed to the "Apps and Websites" section of Facebook's Settings. Here, you'll see all of the third-party apps that currently have permission to access some part of your Facebook account. You can limit these permissions or delete apps altogether. You'll also see a list of all the apps you've previously deleted.
Anyone who was affected by the data breach will see a link reading, "See How You're Affected." Click that, and you will be taken to a page letting you know what data might have been disclosed. There will also be links to Help Center articles — though those articles will not help you get your data back — and a link to your current third-party app Settings, in case this news makes you want to revoke all permissions currently in place.
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