Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg: ‘We Definitely Didn’t Realize the Gravity’ of User Data Leak

Exec says company acted “too slowly” in addressing data leak exploited by Cambridge Analytica that affected 50 million users

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In her first public comments since it was revealed tens of millions of users had their information leaked, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg admitted Thursday that the company “definitely didn’t realize the gravity” of the situation when it first learned about it. But, she insisted, the social network is committed to “earning” back the trust of its users.

Sandberg said the company acted “too slowly” this week in addressing the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where 50 million users had their information lifted by the political data firm in 2014. The firm was eventually contracted by the Trump campaign during its successful 2016 run to the White House.

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