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Facebook warns users, investors of more Cambridge Analytica-sized leaks in the future

Facebook has now warned its investors that the company is currently on the hurt for other Cambridge Analytica-sized data leaks, and might not like what it finds.

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Facebook has now warned its investors that the company is currently on the hurt for other Cambridge Analytica-sized data leaks, and might not like what it finds.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who has spent most of the past month on the fallout from the revelations on the hijacking of personal data by a political firm, sought to reassure investors in the latest update. "Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018," Zuckerberg said.

"We are taking a broader view of our responsibility and investing to make sure our services are used for good. But we also need to keep building new tools to help people connect, strengthen our communities, and bring the world closer together." Facebook shares climbed more than 4.7 percent to USD 167.33 in after-hours trades that followed release of the earnings figures.

The number of people using Facebook monthly climbed 13 per cent from last year to 2.2 billion as of the end of March, despite concerns that users would abandon the network.

Zuckerberg too faced questioning in congressional panels about revelations that personal data was harvested on 87 million users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Whether the scandal is taking a toll on membership or advertising at the online social network was not likely to be revealed in earnings numbers from the first three months of this year, and the topic was expected to come up during a routine call with financial analysts.

The company also released a rule book for the types of posts it allows on its social network, giving far more detail than ever before on what is permitted on subjects ranging from drug use and sex work to bullying, hate speech and inciting violence.

Facebook for years has had "community standards" for what people can post. But only a relatively brief and general version was publicly available, while it had a far more detailed internal document to decide when individual posts or accounts should be removed. Now, the company is providing the longer document on its website to clear up confusion and be more open about its operations, said Monika Bickert, Facebook's vice president of product policy and counter-terrorism.

 At the same time, the company has also been accused of doing the bidding of repressive regimes by aggressively removing content that crosses governments and providing too little information on why certain posts and accounts are removed. New policies will, for the first time, allow people to appeal a decision to take down an individual piece of content. Previously, only the removal of accounts, Groups and Pages could be appealed.

Facebook is also beginning to provide the specific reason why content is being taken down for a wider variety of situations. Facebook, the world's largest social network, has become a dominant source of information in many countries around the world. It uses both automated software and an army of moderators that now numbers 7,500 to take down text, pictures and videos that violate its rules. Under pressure from several governments, it has been beefing up its moderator ranks since last year.

With inputs from PTI

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