How Zuckerberg saved tens of millions of dollars on Facebook's worst day

Even as the Facebook is facing an unprecedented outrage and demand for investigation over an alleged breach of privacy, its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has not broken his silence over the issue.

The company's shares witnessed a drastic fall of 6.7 per cent on Monday after the data controversy hit headlines. Zuckerburg, who owns 16 per cent of the company shares, personally saw his fortune fall by 5 billion dollar on a single day.

However, media reports reveal that Zuckerberg's personal loss could have been even worse. The Facebook CEO had managed to sell off nearly 5 million shares worth tens of millions of dollars before the worst day of the social media firm began, according to a report by the Market Watch.

A #DeleteFacebook campaign is gathering steam after reports suggested that a political consultancy firm, Cambridge Analytica, might have improperly gained access to data on 50 million Facebook users.

US and European lawmakers have demanded an explanation of how the consulting firm, which worked on US President Donald Trump's election campaign, gained access to the data.

According to a report in The Observer earlier this week, a company called Global Science Research (GSR) harvested tens of millions of Facebook profiles and sold the data to Cambridge Analytica. It is not clear whether the consulting firm still possesses the harvested data. 

Facebook said on Monday it had hired forensic auditors from the firm Stroz Friedberg to investigate and determine whether Cambridge Analytica still had the data.

“If this data still exists, it would be a grave violation of Facebook’s policies and an unacceptable violation of trust and the commitments these groups made,” Facebook said in a statement.

London-based Cambridge Analytica said it strongly denied the media claims, and that it deleted all Facebook data it obtained from a third-party application in 2014 after learning the information did not adhere to data protection rules.

However, further allegations about the firm’s tactics were reported late Monday by British broadcaster Channel 4 which said it secretly taped interviews with senior Cambridge Analytica executives in which they boasted of their ability to sway elections in countries around the world with digital manipulation and traditional political trickery.

Facebook and other social media companies including Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube have taken voluntary steps to restrict possible foreign interference and combat false news, but they have not been forced by law or regulation to make changes and legislation on the issue has stalled.

(With inputs from agencies)