Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday issued a statement on the growing controversy around Cambridge Analytica's acquisition and use of tens of millions of people's personal Facebook data. In the 935-word statement, Zuckerberg reassures users that "the good news is that most important actions to prevent this from happening again" were already taken in 2014, when the company limited the amount of data that could be acquired by third-party apps on the social media platform. While the statement acknowledged the company "made mistakes," it avoided an explicit apology or the word "sorry." Zuckerberg's move comes four days after the New York Times reported that Cambridge Analytica, a company that provides political operators detailed information on millions of voters, obtained data on more than 50 million American Facebook users from a University of Cambridge researcher named Aleksandr Kogan. Cambridge Analytica's connections to Republican megadonor Robert Mercer and Steve Bannon, an ex Trump campaign chairman and a senior White House adviser, may have allowed the Trump campaign to access and use the data to target potential voters, according to the Times.

In most cases, Obama supporters who signed on to the campaign's mailing list were asked to authorize the campaign's Facebook app, allowing it to access certain aspects of their profile, including their posts, likes, photos, demographics and similar data from their Facebook friends. The Obama data was used in voter turnout efforts, with a focus on young voters in key battleground states, and former campaign officials said the data was kept secure and not sold to or acquired from third parties.

The consultancy at the centre of a storm over Facebook data greatly exaggerated its role in Donald Trump's U.S. presidential victory, according to the academic who provided the data. But, as Ciara Lee reports, that's not the view of the whistleblower who helped set up the data analytics firm which targetted Facebook users.

Mark Zuckerberg would have known about concerns of data breaches at Facebook as early as 2010, MPs today heard. The tech giant's former operations manager Sandy Parakilas said the media giant handed over'highly personal' data on its users to app developers. But once the information was handed over the company had no way of keeping track of it - meaning it could be harvested and used by firms like Cambridge Analytica. Mr Parakilas, who worked for the firm in 2011 and 2012, said he gave top executives a briefing on the dangers that data could be breached. But he said Facebook effectively turned a blind eye to these concerns and did not carry out audits of where the data was going.

She wants Zuckerberg's assurances that Facebook is prepared to take the lead on security measures that protect people's privacy -- or Congress may step in. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, also wants Zuckerberg to testify. But Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, won't commit to asking Zuckerberg to appear. Republicans on the Commerce Committee also have sent letters requesting information from Facebook and Cambridge parent SCL Group.

An academic who developed the app used by Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from millions of Facebook users said Wednesday that he had no idea his work would be used in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and that he's being scapegoated in the fallout from the affair. Alexandr Kogan, a psychology researcher at Cambridge University, told the BBC that both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have tried to place the blame on him for violating the social media platform's terms of service, even though Cambridge Analytica ensured him that everything he did was legal. "My view is that I'm being basically used as a scapegoat by both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica," he said. "Honestly, we thought we were acting perfectly appropriately, we thought we were doing something that was really normal." Authorities in Britain and the United States are investigating the alleged improper use of Facebook data by Cambridge Analytica, a U.K.-based political research firm.

Here's how a data firm helped Donald Trump get elected as president. Image of a Facebook logo taken on a mobile phone. LONDON (AP) -- An academic who developed an app used by Cambridge Analytica to harvest data from millions of Facebook users said Wednesday he had no idea his material would be used in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and that he's being scapegoated in the affair. Alexandr Kogan, a psychology professor at Cambridge University, told the BBC that both Facebook and Cambridge Analytica have tried to place the blame on him for violating the social media platform's terms of service, when he had been assured that everything he did was appropriate. Kogan told the BBC that Cambridge Analytica approached him about the app and, in retrospect, he should have asked the company more questions about how the data would be used.

A UK-based academic whose app harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users has claimed he is being made a scapegoat by the social media company and Cambridge Analytica. Aleksandr Kogan, a psychology lecturer at Cambridge University, developed a personality app which amassed a huge cache of personal information from Facebook for the British political consultancy accused of an illegal data grab. Cambridge Analytica (CA) is alleged to have used the information to help Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and on Tuesday suspended its chief executive, Alexander Nix, after he was secretly recorded boasting about the firm's pivotal role in the US election. MPs have summoned Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence over the "catastrophic failure of process" behind the breach and have accused the social media giant of misleading Parliament about how companies acquired and held user data. Facebook, which also faces an investigation by the US Federal Trade Commission, has suspended activity for CA and Dr Kogan for violating its policies.

An academic who created an app which harvested data from 50 million Facebook users says he has been made "a scapegoat" for Facebook and UK firm Cambridge Analytica. Dr Aleksandr Kogan completed work for Cambridge Analytica in 2014, but said he had no idea the data would be used to benefit Donald Trump's US presidential campaign. Facebook says Dr Kogan violated the site's policies. Last night, Alexander Nix, the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, was suspended, having been secretly filmed by Channel 4 News appearing to suggest the company could use tactics to discredit politicians online. The company says the programme "grossly misrepresented" Mr Nix's conversation.

An academic who created an app which harvested data from 50 million users says he has been made "a scapegoat" for Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Dr Aleksandr Kogan completed work for Cambridge Analytica in 2014, but said he had no idea the data would be used to benefit Donald Trump's campaign. The psychology academic said he wanted the data so he could model human behaviour through social media. Facebook says Dr Kogan violated the site's policies. The Cambridge University researcher developed a personality survey called This is Your Digital Life.