Facebook is cracking down on personality quizzes that reveal too much info
Facebook said it's cracking down on personality quizzes that can reveal information about your passwords and answers to website security questions -- the name of your first pet, for instance, or the first rock concert you attended -- a year after Cambridge Analytica reaped data about millions of the social-media giant's users without their permission through a personality app.
In an update for developers, Facebook said "apps with minimal utility, such as personality quizzes, may not be permitted on the platform." A company spokeswoman said personality quizzes and other apps will be subject to heightened scrutiny under new platform policies.
"The update also clarifies that apps may not ask for data that doesn't enrich the in-app, user experience," wrote Eddie O'Neil, director of product management at Facebook, in a blog post.
Facebook's 2.38 billion users are an attractive audience for third-party app developers and content sites, which develop games, apps and information to grab users' eyeballs. But the size of Facebook's user base has also proved alluring to political consultants such as Cambridge Analytica, which relied on a third-party app called "thisisyourdigitallife," which offered a personality test to Facebook users.
Facebook users who took the quiz agreed to share their friends' data, which meant that its 270,000 users provided data on more than 50 million users without their knowledge.
Facebook said it's also revoking expired permissions for apps, and that apps that haven't used or accessed previously approved permissions from Facebook users during the last 90 days "may be considered expired."