The Facebook probe leads to a major change

(news)
–
Looks like Facebook is washing houses. The social media giant says its "app developer survey" has caused the company to suspend tens of thousands of apps, TechCrunch reports. Some were banned directly "for many reasons, including inappropriate sharing of data obtained from us, which made data publicly available without protecting people's identity or anything that violated our policies," the company said in a blog post. The move follows the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which millions of Facebook profiles were extracted for data to boost President Trump's 201[ads1]6 campaign.

What are Facebook apps? They come in various forms, from a game like Candy Crush to a streaming app like Spotify, per New York Times . Some use Facebook to sign in to their own app, but all seek access to Facebook membership data to cope with new users. The move follows a wave of regulatory interest after Facebook users learned that apps were dropping their data without people knowing. "And we're far from finished," Facebook adds. "As each month goes by, we've … explored the ways developers can build using our platforms." BoingBoing notes that Facebook posted the blog late Friday because "that's what you do with bad news." (Read more Facebook stories.)