Nearly one-quarter of Pennsylvanians had their personal data compromised on Facebook by Cambridge Analytica and other third parties. The determination of 2,960,311 residents was shared by the social media site to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
"Social media users don't expect to have their information given to third party developers without their knowledge," Shapiro said in a press release. "Businesses like Facebook must take significant steps to better protect their users' privacy and personal data."
In March, news broke that Cambridge Analytica, a voter profiling company that conducted research for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, harvested the personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users. Due to Facebook policy, third party developers like Cambridge Analytica had access to the personal data of "friends" of people who used certain applications.
The massive data leak prompted Shapiro and 40 other attorneys general to call on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions about the company's business practices. Zuckerberg appeared before the U.S. Senate in April to discuss the company's approach to data protection.
Cambridge Analytica announced Wednesday it will shut down. Facebook estimates that in total, more than 70 million Facebook users had their data breached by third-parties using the "friends" loophole.
