Tech must be treated like tobacco, says Facebook whistleblower

Despite Facebook being fined a record US$5bil (RM21.17bil) in the US last year for 'deceiving' users about keeping their information safe, Wylie said the world has yet to wake up to the consequences of the scandal. — AFP

PARIS: Facebook and other tech companies need to be regulated like the tobacco industry, warned Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The data scientist revealed how he helped the disgraced company, founded by Donald Trump's former right-hand man Steve Bannon, to use unauthorised personal data harvested from Facebook to help swing a string of elections, including Trump's US presidential win in 2016.