The Cambridge Analytica scam which happened last month,
shook the whole world and raised the concern of user’s data protection on the
social media sites. The scandal of Facebook Cambridge Analytica involved the
sharing of personal data of almost 87 million people, which was used to
influence voter opinion on behalf of politicians who hired them. You should be
aware of the fact that Cambridge Analytica began collecting the data in 2014
and regarding the issue of data leakage, Facebook has been investigated by the
FTC IN 2011 also.
Although Facebook accepted its mistakes and apologized for
the leakage of personal information, many famous personalities like Elon Musk,
deleted their Facebook just after the announcement of the leakage. The CEO of
Facebook was even presented before the EU commission to explain the scandal and
the privacy policy practice of the company.
Every sector of the various industries was affected from the
data leakage and accountants are no exception to it. So, in this blog post, we will be looking at
the steps which accountants should take in the wake of the Facebook Cambridge
Analytica case.
1. Secure your
Facebook Page
There are more than 60 million Facebook pages of various
businesses and if you also have a Facebook page, then it’s high time to reconsider
your privacy settings and all the administrative accounts related to your
business. You can review your permission control, privacy setting and
administrative account on Facebook. It is very much important to avoid Featured
Admin otherwise your Facebook account will become visible to those who are
looking at your page. You should also be very much careful while downloading or
installing apps for your Facebook page as it can make your personal data
vulnerable.
2. Go through the
data collection policy
Facebook is a great and the most economical platform for
promotion, but with the recent revelation, running ads on Facebook by your
accounting firm should be reconsidered. Even after giving access to more than 2
billion active monthly users, a large volume of businesses including accounting firms have decided to migrate from Facebook and are looking for other marketing
platforms. So, if you are running ads on Facebook then you should go through
the fine prints of the new data collection policy which is practiced by
Facebook. Moreover, you should also know that many users have changed their
privacy settings in the wake of the recent data leakage and it can affect your
reach of ads as well.
3. Inform your clients
Your clients may need your help in understanding the data
collection policy of the Facebook. You can make them understand the practices
of Facebook data privacy and collection of data on the basis of your client’s
technical know-how. If you want to prove to your clients that you really care
for the privacy of their personal data, then this is the high time to do so.
You can teach them about the social media applications they use and how their
private data is collected through Facebook.
The recent Facebook Cambridge Analaytica case is a wakeup
call for all the accountants as they deal with the most important data of any
business and individual which is related to their finances. So, go through the
above mentioned steps and take action for protecting your data on Facebook.
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