Yes, the latest “witch hunt” has led to the banning of the myPersonality app. The problem is that the action may have been somewhat exaggerated. As more than 400 applications have been suspended from the platform (Facebook) since audit work began in March. But expelling and suspending does not have the same meaning. Suspended apps can be back on the platform as long as the issues that led to the penalty are fixed. Maybe that’s why the social network giant Facebook does not publicly reveal what they are. The ban is permanent, as the Cambridge Analytica case application is an example. The social network giant Facebook removed it from its platform because the app promised a personality test, but collected information from users and contacts that were then passed on to third parties – in this case, sent to Cambridge Analytica. MyPersonality app has been banned for similar reasons, although no major breach scandal is behind it. The application was developed by researchers at the Cambridge Psychometrics Center, a real academic institution that has no connection with Cambridge Analytica. It provided personality tests in exchange for collecting user data. So far, it has not violated any of the social network giant Facebook’s terms of use. Data from about 4 million users were collected by the application, but they all gave permission for this when they agreed to conduct the tests. In addition, there was no contact data collection of these users. The data were used for studies of the Cambridge Psychometrics Center and researchers from other institutions who were authorized by an ethics committee. The collection was done between 2007 and 2012. After that, myPersonality app was deactivated by the creators themselves but kept on the platform for probably future uses. Then the social network giant Facebook banned the myPersonality app? That’s the question that David Stillwell, one of the app’s creators, asks himself. “When the application was suspended, three months ago, I asked the social network giant Facebook to explain which terms were violated, but so far they have not set an example,” he says. The problem seems to have started in May when a significant amount of data from myPersonality app was found on GitHub. But it appears that it was not a malicious spill: apparently, a researcher put the data there just to make it easy for them to access them without having thought about the possibility of misuse. As a result, the myPersonality app has joined the group of those 400 suspended apps. The problem is that the suspension has become expulsion. The reason given by the social network giant Facebook is that the creators of the application did not cooperate with the audit request and shared data with researchers and organizations that have limited information protection mechanisms. But Stillwell points out that the social network giant Facebook has long known about the use of myPersonality app data, even in 2009 the social network giant Facebook itself has certified it as a “verified application.” “It’s strange that all of a sudden the social network giant Facebook has ignored myPersonality app research and believed that the data might have been misused”. It’s not a problem that worries researchers a lot because, anyway, the app was out of use. This context raises two reasons: either the social network giant Facebook is “sinning for excess” to lessen the risk of new scandals or simply wants to show off its work or worrisome. So, what do you think about this? Simply share all your views and thoughts in the comment section below.
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