PRESS: Com watchdog asks Facebook about info sharing with vendors

MOSCOW, Aug 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian communications service has sent an inquiry to Facebook about agreements of the U.S. social network with smartphone manufacturers amid media reports that the company has been sharing users’ data with them for more than 10 years, business daily Kommersant reported on Friday.

The New York Times published a story in early June that a research had confirmed that Facebook had been handing over data on users over 10 years to 60 makers of mobile devices, including Apple, Amazon, BlackBerry, Microsoft, and Samsung.

The information was often delegated without consent, and even confidentiality settings did not help. Facebook shared information on interests of friends, relations statuses, and religion preferences, among others.

“Facebook provided access to data so that manufacturers could integrate services of the social network directly into a phone or a tablet. Thanks to that, users could see Facebook friends in a contact list or receive notifications of likes their posts gathered,” Vladimir Zykov, head of the association of professional users of social networks and messengers, said.

The association earlier asked the communications watchdog to check Facebook for “leakage of data of Russians.”

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