As part of its effort to prove that it's changed its ways following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook has announced a Data Abuse Bounty – a cash fee for anyone who can point the finger of blame at other apps developer misusing personal information.
The new reward is much like Facebook's existing Bug Bounty Program, which provides cash and kudos to experts who report potential security vulnerabilities and give the company time to fix them before telling anyone else.
To report data abuse, you'll need first-hand knowledge and proof of the developer's wrongdoing. This could involve sending data to other companies that intend to sell it (we're looking at you, CA), using it for political influence, or plain old scamming.
How much?
There's no set limit on the amount of cash available, but the bounty will depend on the potential impact of the abuse. Considering the Cambridge Analytica scandal affected as many as 87 million users and Facebook is now facing a class action lawsuit, that could be a hefty sum.
For reference, vulnerabilities reported through the Bug Bounty Program have earned their finders up to US$40,000 (about £30,000, AU$50,000).
In his first statement since the CA scandal broke, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company would be focusing on identifying any other companies that have been doing the same thing.
"We are doing a set of things to restrict the amount of access that developers can get going forward," he said, "but the other [thing] is that we need to make sure that there aren't any other Cambridge Analyticas out there, or folks who have improperly accessed data."
Facebook itself has tightened approval for third-party apps and limited the amount of data they can access, but this is the first time it's reached out to users directly to help shore up its efforts.
- Want to keep your data safe? Find out how to delete Facebook
