The Information Regulator has asked Facebook to contact all South Africans affected by the social network’s data breach, and to state what steps it is taking to ensure users’ data remains safe. Facebook said last week that 59,777 Facebook users in SA were "potentially impacted" by the data breach via their friendships with 33 users of a personality quiz app. The personal information of 87-million of the social media platform’s 2.2-billion users worldwide may have been wrongfully shared with Cambridge Analytica, the company has said. SA’s Information Regulator, which was accused by the Right2Know Campaign on Monday of being a toothless organisation, said in a statement on Tuesday it had "decided to proactively and voluntarily engage Facebook with regards to the alleged data breach". The regulator had written to Facebook to establish the extent of the breach, what measures the firm was taking "to prevent further compromise", and to request that Facebook inform affected users so they c...

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