The Facebook Data Breach Saga: What You Should Know To Sound Smart And Funny In Conversations

By now, even if you don't have a Facebook account, you'd know about that privacy breach. You know, the one where some 87 million Facebook users’ personal information globally that was inappropriately collected for political uses (including the Trump presidential campaign and Brexit vote). Closer to home, over 65,000 Facebook users in Singapore may have had their data “improperly shared” with data research company Cambridge Analytica.

Here are some fun facts about the brouhaha you should know.

10 cm
The height of the booster seat Mark Zuckerberg sat on during his congress hearing, which also spawned numerous memes. If you’re wondering why the 1.7m-tall Facebook founder would bring a cushion to the session, well, he didn’t. A Facebook spokesperson has clarified that the Congress committee had provided it for comfort, apparently. Still, how unglam.

About 600
No. of questions Zuckerberg fielded in a 10-hour questioning before the US Senate on the data breach and possible regulations.

At least 10
No. of celebs who have joined the #DeleteFacebook campaign following the data breach saga. The list of famous people who have deleted their Facebook accounts includes Will Ferrell, Cher and Jim Carrey, Tesla mogul Elon Musk, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. They are part of the 10 per cent of Americans in the exodus, according to a recent survey. That said, Facebook remains the most-used app in the US and UK.

£2.10 to £2.80 (S$3.90 to S$5.20)
How much Cambridge Analytica paid the initial 200,000 people to use a personality app between 2013 and 2015, which harvested data of these consenting users, and that of all their Facebook contacts, who did not consent, resulting in the massive data acquisition and scandal.

US$3 billion (S$3.93 billion)
How much Zuckerberg made over the two-day hearing, due to Facebook’s stock gains of 4.5 per cent. Now, who has the last laugh?