Up to 60,000 South Africans could be affected by the Facebook data breach, having had their personal data shared with Cambridge Analytica after friends installed a personality quiz app in 2013, according to Fin24.
Facebook reported that while only 33 South Africans installed the personality quiz app, it is possible that the data of 59,777 South Africans was shared. About 300,000 people worldwide installed the app, created by Cambridge University's Aleksandr Kogan. The app was able to download the personal data of the friends of those who downloaded the app.
About 87-million people's personal data could have been compromised by the app download, Fabebook reportedly said.
Facebook reportedly said it would begin informing users if their data had been shared by the app from Monday.
On Monday, Facebook suspended the account of another data analytics firm after discovering it was using data gathering techniques like Cambridge Analytica, according to CNBC. The firm, CubeYou used personality quizzes labelled for "non-profit academic research" and sold it to marketers.
Meanwhile, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerburg met with lawmakers in Washington on Monday and apologised for the scandal, the New York Times reported. Zuckerburg will testify before two congressional committees in the House of Representatives on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On lawmaker reportedly said Zuckerburg was taking the issue "seriously" and that he was aware that regulation could be around the corner.
In his public testimony, made public on Monday, Zuckerburg reportedly said: "We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it and I'm responsible for what happens here."