Facebook Says It Doesn’t Sell Your Data, But It Considered Selling Access to It, Documents Show

In April , Mark Zuckerberg severalize a congressional hearing , “ I ca n’t be clear-cut on this topic : We do n’t sell information . ” But just because Facebook does n’t currently trade data , it does n’t mean they did n’t actively mull it over . Improperly redactedcourt documentsfrom February 2017 show that Facebook explored charging company for access code to substance abuser datum .

TheWall Street Journalbroke newsworthiness of the botched redaction yesterday , whileArs Technicanoted you could simply copy paste the redacted percentage into a schoolbook editor . Gizmodo replicated the process and indeed , the redacted sections divulge Facebook employee pushed advertisers to give up if they want to keep unfettered entree to user data .

Essentially , the court text file reference internal Facebook memos and electronic mail from 2012 to 2014 , where employees embarked on a campaign reaching out to large companies and menace to call on off data admission if they did n’t ante up at least $ 250k a yr . The redacted portions describe a “ whitelisting ” organisation used by Facebook to find out which companies got data admission found on their “ datum reciprocity . ”

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

While Facebook inevitably decide not to go through with charging , it did endeavor to extract bargain for lengthy access to its Graph API from some major players . In 2013 , Facebook was in the process of negociate a whitelist deal with Amazon . The written document detail one Facebook employee advising another not to promise data access code to Amazon until it agreed to compensate . In the same year , Facebook had a standardized exchange with the Royal Bank of Canada . When the bank expressed concern about its information access , a Facebook employee internally asked whether the bank had an subsist advertising accord . Other caller that had whitelist agreement in place let in Lyft , Nissan , Airbnb , Netflix , and Chrysler / Fiat .

The documents are loosely tie into the ongoing UK investigating into theCambridge Analytica scandal . They wereseized by the UK Parliamentearlier this week from Six4Three founder Ted Kramer while he was visiting London . Six4Three is the Creator of an app called Pikini , which permit Facebook users explore for photos of friends in bikinis . The app maker sued Facebook alleging that revoking access to the data API put down its business . While Six4Three and Pikini are n’t actually related to the Cambridge Analytica investigation , the documents are comprehend to instance Facebook ’s high-handed attitude to data point privacy during the same time stop . The documents are currently under seal under California law , but Damian Collins , chair of the Digital , Culture , Media , and Sport committee that ordered the seizure , has tweeted the UK can publish the papers .

The@CommonsCMShas receive the documents it ordered from Six4Three relating to Facebook . I have reviewed them and the committee will discuss how we will proceed ahead of time next week . Under UK law & parliamentary perquisite we can write papers if we take to as part of our enquiry

William Duplessie