Facebook is looking at another scandal for sharing user data with Chinese smart phone manufacturers. Huawei is the world’s third largest phone manufacturer is facing scrutiny from the U.S. government, worrying this might be an issue of national security.
Facebook has confirmed sharing user data with four major smart phone manufacturers and is reporting to end their relationship with the manufacturers later this year. In the initial process of creating apps Facebook would give access to these device makers, making it easier for users to share to Facebook.
The controversy of this issue is not with the wrongful use of data, but not adhering to the limits of access to profile information. The initial granting of access was for profile information but would also collect the information of friends from a user profile, without permission for the friends information.
This was discovered by a writer from the New York Times when they looked at a Blackberry device from 2013, revealing that the device manufacturer was accessing friends’ data without their permission through profiles that gave permission.
Facebook confirms that they have granted access to user data to these companies, but deny that they we’re using approved accounts to gain friends data. They also stated that they are working on ending these partnerships with the Chinese relations to end as well.
Facebook is also claiming that they were carefully managing the access being given to companies. The information used was stored on Huawei devices, not on their servers.
U.S. intelligence has voiced concern of China telecoms accessing this data for espionage purposes, threatening American infrastructure. These claims are denied by the Chinese government and the Pentagon ordered retail outlets on U.S. bases to stop selling Huawei phones due to security risk.
Facebook plans on dissolving their relationship with Huawei by the end of this week and are working on limiting access to data for the other companies. Check out the video above for more on Facebook’s data use.
