Facebook has launched the Data Abuse Bounty program, offering monetary rewards to users who report misuse of data by app developers.
Specifically, the company is looking for “people with first-hand knowledge and proof of cases where a Facebook platform app collects and transfers people’s data to another party to be sold, stolen or used for scams or political influence.”
According to Facebook, the new bounty program is inspired by the current one it offers to users who discover bugs on the platform.
Facebook says rewards will be based on the impact of each report. While there is no maximum, the social network notes that those who have reported higher impact bug have been award as much as $40,000.
Once a legitimate report is received, Facebook says it will investigate the associated app to identify if it poses a credible threat. Apps that are confirmed to be in validation of Facebook policies will be shut down and legal action will be taken against the company that created them.
The person who originally reported the app will be rewarded, while anyone who may have been affected by the abuse will be notified.
The Data Abuse Bounty program comes as a response to the recent revelation that Facebook helped political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica improperly access the data of at least 87 million users around the world. On April 4th, Facebook confirmed that over 620,000 Canadians were affected in the data breach.
Going forward, Facebook says it will begin notifying users who had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Source: Facebook
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