Cambridge Analytica accessed fewer than 1.1M Pinoy accounts – NPC

The number of Philippine Facebook accounts improperly accessed by Cambridge Analytica could be fewer than the initially estimated 1.175 million, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) said Friday.

The NPC had earlier notified Facebook and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the Philippine privacy watchdog had launched an investigation to determine whether Cambridge Analytica had processed Filipinos' personal data.

The NPC had also required Facebook had to submit a number of documents relevant to the case and to establish the scope and impact of the incident on Filipino data subjects.

Facebook had said earlier that 1,175,312 accounts from the Philippines could have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, making the country the second most affected in terms of total number of data subjects.

However, NPC Commissioner and Chairman Raymund Liboro said that, based on an early perusal of Facebook's response, it seemed likely fewer accounts than what was first estimated had been affected.

The initial estimate was based on "locations," and the accounts were just assumed to be that of Filipinos.

The NPC chief, however, said the agency is to give Facebook's response and the documents it submitted a thorough review.

"They are continuously investigating, so we appreciate Kang ganito. We appreciate the cooperation that we are seeing from them," Liboro said.

"There would be constant exchanges of information to prevent harm and to also help us in dealing with this and strategically coming up with [means] to protect users," he added. — DVM, GMA News