Irish data regulator reviewing Facebook data leak

The dataset was made publicly available on a hacking website on 3^rd April and was first reported by Business Insider.

The Irish DPC said the information appears to have been scraped from Facebook public profiles some time ago and involves a “significant number” of European Union users.

The regulator stated that previous data leaks occurred in 2019 and 2018, relating to a scraping of the Facebook website, which Facebook said at the time occurred between June 2017 and April 2018.

The DPC is attempting to “establish the full facts” of the case, it added.   

Facebook said in a blog post that “malicious actors” obtained the data by scraping it from the Facebook platform prior to September 2019. 

The company said: “As a result of the action we took, we are confident that the specific issue that allowed them to scrape this data in 2019 no longer exists.”