Over the past few weeks, the personal data of 50 million Facebook users was compromised and used for political purposes. So how exactly did this happen? Let’s go over some of the facts about this issue and the events that lead it to this point.

   A few years ago, Facebook allowed a researcher at a British University to access user data for a research project to do psychological profiling of Facebook users. He then gave it to Cambridge Analytica, a private data analytics firm, in an unauthorized way. This firm took all of the information and used it for psychographic targeting of voters. They developed profiles of users by showing them images, using specific word choice and phrases, and creating politically-motivated ads throughout their Facebook feed. In other words, Cambridge Analytica used a distribution of “fake news” to play mind games with users for psychological profiling and voter targeting. This was all done without facebook’s permission, and definitely without the permission of all 50 million users.

   The response to this explosive issue with Facebook is staggering. Many ordinary Facebook users believe that this abuse of personal privacy has gone too far, and it is time to do something about it. A hashtag, #deletefacebook, recently emerged on Twitter to express outrage on this problem. Celebrities and other famous people, who use Facebook either in their daily lives or for business and publicity reasons, began joining the movement and using the hashtag. This includes American singer and actress Cher, and more surprisingly, Jan Koum, the founder of WhatsApp (who previously sold his app to Facebook). As more and more people around the world contemplate whether or not they should delete facebook, they go through their own personal/emotional decision because they have become so tied to it in their daily lives.