Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has taken out full-page advertisements in multiple British newspapers apologising for a “breach of trust”.

The world’s largest social media network is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States following allegations by a whistleblower that British consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed users’ information.

Cambridge Analytica reportedly used the information to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

Mr Zuckerberg took out the advert in response to the growing outrage regarding the scandal.

“We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it,” the advert reads, signed by the Facebook founder.

The plain black text apology on a white background, with only a tiny Facebook logo, appeared in Sunday publications including The Observer – one of the newspapers whose reporting on the issue has sent Facebook’s share price tumbling.

Mr Zuckerberg said an app built by a university researcher “leaked Facebook data of millions of people in 2014”.

“This was a breach of trust, and I’m sorry we didn’t do more at the time,” Mr Zuckerberg said, reiterating an apology first made last week in US television interviews.

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Cambridge Analytica says it initially believed the data had been obtained in line with data protection laws, and later deleted it at Facebook’s request.

The consultancy said it did not use the data in work it did for the 2016 US election.