Social media network giant Facebook’s latest security breach exposed the phone numbers of over 400 million users around the world, including records for users in the UK and Vietnam.

This wasn’t a security issue for Facebook, says Todd Shipley, the CEO of Vere Software, who joined RT’s Boom Bust to discuss the scandal. “They [Facebook] allowed people to come and get the data,” he explains.

According to Shipley, the data was leaked because Facebook was trying to share user information. “We don’t like it. We don’t want them to do it but that’s what they’ve been doing early on.”

Shipley notes that if this happened in the European Union, “there will be the whole set of other factors in play and Facebook was probably going to get in trouble… for the data that was released.



“In the US, we have only the breach laws where if they get the data stolen they have to report it. But there are no rules that require them to keep the data and how long they can keep that data about us at all.”

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section