Facebook drew fresh criticism from US lawmakers following revelations that it allowed Chinese smartphone makers, including one deemed a national security threat, access to user data.
The world’s largest social network confirmed late Tuesday that China-based Huawei—which has been banned by the US military and a lightning rod for cyberespionage concerns—was among device makers authorized to see user data.
Facebook has claimed the agreements with some 60 device makers dating from a decade ago were designed to help the social media giant get more services into the mobile ecosystem.
Nonetheless, lawmakers expressed outrage that Chinese firms were given access to user data at a time when officials were trying to block their access to the US market over national security concerns.
“Why does Huawei, a company that our intelligence community said is a national security threat, have access to our personal information?” said Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, on Twitter.
The latest news reaching our desk show that Facebook says ” it will end its data partnership with Huawei by the end of this week following a backlash over the Chinese phone maker’s access to Facebook user data”.
