Implode-o-Meter News - Facebook facing an existential crisis over privacy and data

Aleksandr Kogan, a University of Cambridge professor, accessed the data of more than 50 million Facebook users simply by creating a survey filled out by 270,000 people. Facebook provided Kogan with the data of anyone who took the survey, as well as their friends' data. In a statement, Facebook said, "Kogan gained access to this information in a legitimate way and through the proper channels that governed all developers on Facebook at that time."
The one rule Kogan violated, according to Facebook, was passing the user data to third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, the political data firm founded by former Trump aide Steve Bannon and conservative donor Robert Mercer.

But even Facebook sources acknowledged to CNN that it is impossible to completely monitor what developers and advertisers do with the data once it's in their hands. It's like selling cigarettes to someone and telling them not to share the cigarettes with their friends.
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On Capitol Hill, the talk of regulation is growing louder. Lawmakers seeking tighter restrictions on big tech feel even more emboldened than they did in the wake of revelations about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, a source on Capitol Hill told CNN.
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The Cambridge Analytica scandal is likely to hasten user disenchantment with the network, sources inside Facebook acknowledged. Facebook is increasingly being seen as a platform vulnerable to manipulation by political groups, foreign governments, or worse.

Will this prompt a GDPR-style law in the US? It could happen. It's also worth noting that these kind of access/sharing abuses could be solved by blockchain-based permissioned systems (of which a number of projects are implementing, especially in the health space).

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Facebook facing an existential crisis over privacy and data