private data has been collected from some of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. Many are wondering how they will be notified if it has happened to them. On Monday, April 9, Facebook officials began sending out notifications to the nearly 87 million users whose private information had been affected. About 70 million of the users are in the United States, and the others have been pinpointed as being in Indonesia, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.

Facebook is getting a bad reputation, and some of the major advertisers are parting ways with the social media giant that is used all over the world for personal and business reasons.

So far, Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, Elon Musk's Tesla, SpaceX, and Playboy have withdrawn their advertising. Other companies are expected to do the same.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, is taking responsibility for this error. The 33-year-old billionaire met privately on Monday with lawmakers in Washington. On Tuesday, he testified before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees. On Wednesday, he will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

How private data was taken

If you have taken any of those personality quizzes, played games, or taken IQ tests through Facebook, chances are your data was illegally obtained. Many unsuspecting users have taken some of the hundreds of quizzes because they thought it was fun.

If you have taken at least one of those fun quizzes, your private information might have been gathered by third-party companies without your knowledge. There is a long list of companies, but so far the ones that have been identified and banned from Facebook include the data analysis company CubeYou and the Canadian company AggregateIQ.

Notifications

If you were among the millions affected, you will see a message at the top of your Facebook newsfeed informing you that your private data has been obtained illegally by the political research company Cambridge Analytica or other organizations.

Psychology professor Aleksandr Kogan, who taught at Cambridge University, has allegedly being named for designing the app “This Is Your Digital Life.” The app gave Kogan authorization to access 270,000 profiles which contained private information based on those games you played and quizzes you took.

What you should do now

Whether your personal data was taken or not, there is something you can do right now. Click on your Facebook settings on your homepage. Then, look to the left side of the page and click on Apps and Websites. You will see a list of apps that you have either used or were put there by a third party. Remove all the ones you do not want. In the meantime, users are advised not to take any more of those personality quizzes until Zuckerberg and his team straighten out this serious problem.
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