Facebook says more South Africans affected by data leak

Cape Town - Social media giant Facebook has upped the numbers of South African possibly affected by a data leak from 59 777 to 96 134. 

The new figure is included in a letter that Facebook wrote to SA's Information Regulator.

This after the regulator asked it to provide information on how many South Africans may have had their data shared with controversial political data firm Cambridge Analytica.

“As part of our commitment in contacting those potentially impacted by Cambridge Analytica, we recently released the figure of South Africans who had installed the app and those who were potentially impacted," said a spokesperson for Facebook.

"The numbers of affected users originally reported for South Africa were different to those than stated in this letter – we have informed the Information Regulator with the accurate current numbers and continue to contact all those affected.”

Facebook said that 13 South Africans were found to have downloaded the personality quiz app “thisisyourdigitallife” that was created in 2013 by Cambridge University academic Dr. Aleksandr Kogan.

At the time the quiz went live, it was able to collect data on some of the friends of the estimated 300 000 people worldwide who downloaded it.

Some of this data was then shared with Cambridge Analytica. Facebook previously said that as soon as it learned that the data had been shared, it terminated the app's right to access Facebook data. 

Facebook has said it will review and update its security settings and procudures in the wake of the scandal.