Why brands are in danger of ‘hacking off’ their customers

Facebook is showing other brands how to approach the issue of user privacy and data protection.

A brand's value hinges on its reputation as much as its products and services, and increasingly, for most of the world's biggest and most respected companies, that means they're just one digital misstep from alienating their customers.

After a data breach, incognito dating service Ashley Madison actually had to change its name in order to continue in business. Two huge hacks saw Yahoo users desert its platforms in droves. And it's still too early to understand just how much the revelation that Uber broke Apple's app developer rules in order to identify and track individual users, will eventually impact on its brand.