Data belonging to over 562,455 Indian Facebook users may have been improperly accessed by British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, the social media giant has revealed. This information came as part of the revelation that Cambridge Analytical had access to data from 87 million users, mostly from the US, around 37 million more than what had been reported earlier. “In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the U.S. — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica by apps that they or their friends used,” Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer wrote in a blog post. Facebook has noted that the 87 million number is their best estimate at the moment, so it would not be a surprise to see that number rise up. Over half a million Indians compromised The revelation that 562,455 Indian users had their personal data compromised is something that the Indian government will be keenly following. Last week the government had sent a show cause notice to Facebook seeking details of whether the personal data of Indian voters and users has been compromised by British data firm Cambridge Analytica or any other entities. The government is also seeking details on whether the data obtained from Facebook has been used to manipulate the Indian electoral process. The social media giant has been given time till April 7, to respond to the letter by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY). While a little over half a million people being…
