Facebook Inc. struck special data-sharing deals with certain advertisers and preferred partners that included some information about users' friends, such as phone numbers, The Wall Street Journal reported June 8, citing people familiar with the matter.
The social-networking company has faced increasing scrutiny of its data-sharing policies since March when it disclosed that millions of users' data had been improperly accessed by the now-defunct data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica LLC and other third-party developers.
Facebook executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, in recent months have publicly apologized for past missteps at the company and pledged to reform internal policies to better protect users' data. The company also has outlined a number of policy changes designed to better safeguard user data.
Facebook on June 7 acknowledged that as many as 14 million users may have inadvertently shared their posts publicly from May 18 to May 27 due to a software bug that has since been fixed. The company said it was notifying all users who made public posts during that period out of caution.
Facebook also has faced questions about its partnerships with device manufacturers, particularly Chinese manufacturers that some U.S. legislators believe could be susceptible to Chinese government influence.
